


The Dragonborn, her Housecarl, and the Companions

by Romantic_Khajiit



Series: His Harbinger [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/M, Imperials, Skyrim Civil War, Smart dragonborn, Spoilers for Skyrim main story, Wolves mate for life, head-cannons, slow-burn, spoilers for Companions questline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-28 13:50:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 34,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20779628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Romantic_Khajiit/pseuds/Romantic_Khajiit
Summary: Krinna has been told in a prophesy that she is the Dragonborn who must save the world.Farkas thinks the Dragonborn is good company, but he only has eyes for a certain Housecarl.Vilkas finds the Dragonborn simply fascinating...This story is a compilation, based on several of my works on WattpadAnd of course Bethesda owns Skyrim and its characters.Comments and/or additional tag suggestions are greatly appreciated.





	1. Chapter 1

"Shor's bones, what brings you handsome men in tonight?" The barmaid asked as she brought drinks to the dark-haired, silver-eyed twins.

'Oh no,' Farkas thought as he noticed the over exaggerated sway of her hips, 'she's new...' Farkas took his mead with a grunt.

"Just needed to relax," Vilkas told her politely, accepting his own mead.

"Well in that case, your next round is on me," the barmaid said with a wink at Vilkas as she sauntered away.

"Wonderful," Vilkas said with a smirk, and then to Farkas, "our usual wager?"

"Nah," Farkas shook his head, "she's already pretty obviously looking at you."

"Aye," Vilkas nodded, "but you wouldn't have to work too hard to steal from me..."

"Nope," Farkas chuckled, "this one's your problem brother."

"Which means so are the free drinks," Vilkas chuckled before raising his mug and taking a long drink.

The brothers didn't come to the tavern that often, they could drink for free at Jorrvaskr, but every so often they just needed to relax with a change of scenery. Alcohol was usually a good way to dull down the call of their beast blood and relax. A barmaid trying to dangle herself in front of them like a piece of meat was not. Unfortunately, that was a relatively common occurrence when they went out for drinks. The brothers used to make bets on which one of them would have to turn the poor girl down first, but lately Farkas had gotten tired of that game. He especially wasn't interested while some of the whelps he had been training were sitting at a nearby table as well.

Farkas watched as Torvar tried to flirt with the barmaid, but she obviously didn't pay him near as much attention. Ria rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm, and Athis laughed at him.

Vilkas finished his mead and motioned to the barmaid with his empty mug. The barmaid wasted little time in returning with more.

"I went ahead and brought two," she giggled, walking up with four mugs, "you two look like you can handle a lot, if you don't mind me saying..." she gave Vilkas another wink and Farkas resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"You can say whatever you like if the drinks are free," Vilkas laughed.

"Do whatever I like huh?" The barmaid asked in a sultry tone, running a finger along one of the shoulder plates on Vilkas's armor. Vilkas raised a hand and gently pushed her away.

"I said 'say,'not 'do,'" he corrected firmly. The barmaid giggled, clearly not taking him seriously.

"Oh I see, you like to be more private. Don't worry, I have a room for that," she gave him another exaggerated wink.

"Not interested." Vilkas shook his head, "we just came to drink and relax."

"Well, how about," the barmaid giggled and leaned over their table 'accidentally' showing off a lot of her cleavage, "your drinks are _all_ on me tonight? ...and then this is for when you change your mind," she reached into the front of her dress and pulled out a room key. "I can make sure you have a good night."

Farkas watched his brother raise an eyebrow and smirk as she handed him the key.

"Which room?" Vilkas asked in a low tone.

"Second one on the left," she giggled before turning to walk away, again with an exaggerated sway to her hips.

"By Ysmir," Vilkas swore and then grabbed one of the mugs and chugged it.

"Think you set a new record," Farkas chuckled once Vilkas put the mug down.

"That is the first time I've gotten propositioned while trying to turn the woman down," Vilkas said staring at the key in disbelief.

Farkas noticed Torvar watching incredulously as well.

Several drinks later, Farkas's eye was drawn to the door as one of the guards walked in. A Nord woman with a guards' shield and a steel sword on her hip. There was nothing particularly impressive about her, what grabbed his attention was that off-duty guards rarely came in alone. She took her helmet off and sat down at the bar. Farkas felt his heart rate increase and his wolf stirred in his chest... 'probably the alcohol,' he thought... She had messy brown hair with a couple of braids, her cheeks were lightly flushed and her lips looked soft and full, and with his keen wolf eyesight, he could see she had beautiful blue eyes. Farkas was glad his brother had probably had too many drinks by then to notice what this guard was doing to him. He just watched quietly as she sat at the bar and ordered a drink.

"I've had enough," Vilkas said a moment later, pulling Farkas's attention back to his brother. Farkas watched as Vilkas stood and stretched, and Farkas could tell he was a little bit drunk. Vilkas pulled the room key back out of his pocket. He chuckled as he looked at it. "Let's see... second one on the left..." Vilkas slowly pointed to the correct door and then walked over to it.

"He doesn't have to rub it in," Torvar grumbled.

Vilkas reached the door with several eyes on him, and then, with a chuckle he slid the key under the door and walked back to his seat.

"Why in Oblivion did you do that?" Torvar asked in disbelief.

"Because I'm not interested in _a_ good night," Vilkas grumbled. "If I bed a woman I want her to be my wife, not a tavern whore."

Farkas just laughed at the dumbfounded expression on Torvar's face.

"I'm heading home," Vilkas said bluntly to Farkas, not waiting for Torvar to respond.

"I'll head back in a bit," Farkas replied.

"Don't get too drunk," Vilkas warned before he left.

Once he was gone Farkas heard Hulda tell the new barmaid; "I told you so. That's Vilkas of the Companions, he and his brother have never been the type to take the barmaids to bed."

Farkas finished his mead, trying to keep his attention off of the guard woman he'd noticed. She looked strong.

He'd definitely had a little too much to drink, because he didn't hear someone approaching behind him. He was startled as a soft pair of hands snaked slowly across his shoulders.

"I bet you're a lot more fun than your brother anyway," the same barmaid whispered in a sultry tone.

"Nope," Farkas said flatly. He gently removed her hands from his shoulders and stood up to leave, not bothering to look back to see her disappointed face. He was making his way to the door when a small commotion broke out at the bar.

One of the men was drunk and yelling something mostly incomprehensible at the guard. Farkas caught something about "guards serving the people," and he hurried forward to intervene.

"I said no, you stupid excuse for a Nord!" The guard woman yell just before she punched a drunk patron square in the jaw. The man was out like a light before he hit the ground. Farkas stared at the man that had just landed at his feet, he was not a small man. Farkas was impressed.

"That... that was... wow..." he stuttered as he looked back up at the woman. Then Farkas froze as she turned to glare at him next, raising her fists.

"You want some too, Companion?" She challenged angrily. Farkas held his hands up non-combatively.

"No, was just coming to help, but you clearly didn't need it," Farkas said, doing his best to sound calm. His beast blood pounded in his ears. She smelled of mead, steel, and sweat, with an underlying hint of lavender. Her eyes were a little bloodshot, and Farkas suspected she was at least a little drunk. "Wouldn't dare hit a guard," he added earnestly. The woman slowly lowered her fists looking over him suspiciously, then after a moment her expression cracked into a mischievous smirk.

"Afraid I'd beat you?" She asked.

Farkas responded with a smug grin. "Not likely," he chuckled.

"We can see about that," she replied, still smirking. She sat back down on her bar stool, and then placed her arm on the bar and held her hand out, challenging him to arm-wrestle. "Loser buys the drinks," she offered.

"Alright," Farkas grinned as he sat down and took her hand.

Farkas was impressed... she was strong. He won, but not nearly as easily as he was expecting to. She kept her word and bought them each another drink.

"I'm Farkas," he introduced himself as Hulda handed them their drinks.

"Lydia," the woman smiled back at him.


	2. Restlessness

Vilkas stalked back to Jorrvaskr in frustration. He was restless, the beast blood was calling him but he knew better than to listen to it. He'd promised Kodlak he wouldn't, and he and Farkas had been raised to be honorable men. Honorable men control their urges. He didn't understand how his brother could ignore the call of the blood so easily... It called him to hunt, to mate...

Vilkas sat down grumpily in one of the chairs on Jorrvaskr's currently deserted back porch. It was supposed to be a relaxing evening, but that barmaid hadn't let him relax at all. She was pretty, but he'd meant what he told Torvar. He wasn't interested.

A wolf mates for life, and Vilkas knew there was no barmaid that would fit that bill. He needed a woman who could keep up with him. He wanted a partner; someone he could talk to and confide in who could also watch his back.

Farkas seemed to be of a similar mindset, just less frustrated by it; he'd once commented to Vilkas, "if I wouldn't want her guarding my back, I don't need her in my bed. Simple as that."

Vilkas agreed, but he had a much harder time ignoring the call of the blood. It didn't help that his silver-blue eyes, dark hair, and muscular appearance had a tendency to earn him more attention than he cared for... as it had tonight...

He sighed again and leaned back in his chair, looking past the porch and up at the night sky. The wolf was still restless... he would have drank more if the barmaid hadn’t been such a pest. At least the drinks had been free... and he was rather pleased with himself for how he’d handled her persistence. He hoped she’d been embarrassed enough to learn a lesson, but he still didn’t think he’d be going back for drinks anytime soon.

***

After about an hour he went back inside, surprised he didn’t smell his brother yet. He grabbed a tankard of ale and went to his room to try and relax with a book.

When he finally dozed off a few hours after that, he still hadn’t heard Farkas’s footsteps come down the hall.


	3. The Guard

The next morning Farkas slept a little later than he normally would have. The night before he'd been out later and drank more than he normally would have...

"Thought I told you not to get too drunk," Vilkas teased as Farkas opened his door. Ok, if Vilkas was up already he must have slept a lot later than he normally would have.

Farkas grunted at his brother in reply. It wasn't easy for a werewolf to get drunk enough to have a hangover, but Farkas had a little bit of a headache, and the light wasn't helping.

"What kept you so late?" Vilkas laughed.

"Bar fight broke out, then I got challenged to arm-wrestle, loser bought drinks," Farkas shrugged. He didn't feel like telling his brother about Lydia; he wasn't sure how he felt about her, but if he told Vilkas about her he would assume he was interested in her... was he interested in her? He'd just met her... she made his beast blood crazy... the wolf wanted her... did he? Why wouldn't he? She was strong, and she was pretty... not likely she would want him though, she wasn't anything like the silly barmaids that tended to flirt with him... that was one of the things he liked about her; she was a proper woman. Farkas had always thought he'd break one of those flimsy looking barmaids if he ever actually took one of them up on their offers... not Lydia though... she looked like she could handle him...

Wait, what was he thinking? He blinked and shook his head, and realized Vilkas was waving a hand in front of his face.

"What?" Farkas grumbled.

"You didn't even hear me, did you?" Vilkas asked sounding a little annoyed now.

"You asked what kept me?"

"By Ysmir!"

"What?"

"Come on brother," Vilkas shook his head, "let's get upstairs and see what Tilma's made for lunch."

***

The next day Farkas got back to his usual routine, training in the yard. In about the middle of his usual exercises the wind shifted and he caught the scent of steel and lavender... curiously he stopped and looked up at the guards post at Dragonsreach and saw a female guard on duty, looking down to the yard at him. He couldn't see her face, but he recognized her smell. Farkas smiled and waved up at her. The guard froze for a moment, but then waved back. Farkas went back to his training with a little more energy than before... if he had an audience, he'd better put on a good show...

***

In the weeks that followed Farkas figured out the guard rotation well enough to know when to expect Lydia to have the post at Dragonsreach. He made sure to be out in the yard, training at his best as often as he could... which occasionally meant he went a little rougher on Torvar than he really should have when sparring with the whelp... but that had at least once earned him a soft giggle from the guard watching from the walkway above.

He wanted to go up to Dragonsreach and talk to her, invite her to go out for drinks again, but he thought that was probably a bad idea. Farkas could tell by the way she watched him from her guard post that he'd caught her eye, but she was a Whiterun guard, and a proper Nord, it was unlikely she'd stay interested if she found out he was a werewolf...

Farkas also noted the way his beast blood responded to her, and that actually had him a little concerned. The last thing he wanted to do was lose control of his beast and end up hurting her.

So for weeks that was all he did. He did his best to show off while she was at a guard post where she could see him, and he would always smile and wave up to her, but beyond that he kept his distance.

Then one evening he was just coming home from a hunting trip in time to see the guards change out.

"Hail Companion," the female guard that had just gotten off duty greeted him.

Farkas smiled and responded with a nod. With their helmets on most of the female guards looked the same, but Farkas smelled the hint of lavender, and he recognized her voice.

"Off duty?" He asked.

"I am," she nodded.

Farkas knew he should just nod and keep walking... he was a werewolf, he shouldn't get involved with a guard... but she was walking the same direction he was...

"Where you headed now?" He asked with a slight smirk.

"I hadn't decided yet," she answered in an even tone, "I thought about the Bannered Mare... but that depends on who's there."

"You looking for someone or avoiding someone?" Farkas chuckled.

"Maybe a bit of both," Lydia shrugged. Farkas wished he could see her expression, it sounded like she was smiling.

"I can always go for a good drink after a long day of hunting," Farkas shrugged.

"I'll meet you there in half an hour?" Lydia asked hopefully. Farkas's heart skipped a beat and he started to worry Lydia would be able to hear his pounding heart.

"Alright then," he smiled, and he had no idea how but he'd managed to keep his voice calm.

After that night Farkas met Lydia for drinks on several other occasions, but all of their interactions remained mostly platonic. They looked together enough that the silly, dark-haired new barmaid left him alone at least.

Lydia made it more difficult to keep his wolf spirit under control, but Farkas still enjoyed her company. She loved listening to his stories of beasts he'd slain on jobs he'd taken. She had a few good stories about bandit raids and such herself.

It wasn't until she told him she'd accepted a promotion to housecarl that Farkas regretted that he never mentioned his feelings for her... just as suddenly as she'd appeared in his life, she was gone again.


	4. Return of the Dragonborn

Krinna woke with a splitting headache on what felt like a moving wagon. 'What happened?' She wondered silently looking around, she was on the back of a wagon with three men... all of her gear was gone... her hands were tied... 'oh that's right... damn it, I should have been more careful...' she thought.

Krinna had been born in Skyrim, and spent most of her childhood near Riverwood with her older brother. Their mother was prone to dreams and visions, and after their mother had been told in a dream that their little Krinnia was the Dragonborn destined to save the word, she had been sent to Hammerfell to be kept safe from the Thalmor. In Hammerfell she had trained and studied for 15 years, always wondering if her mother had been right or just crazy. The best she could tell, she had been no different than any of the other kids in Riverwood, or then in Hammerfell (except for the obvious fair skin and red hair of a Nord that stood out like a sore thumb amidst the dark complexions of the Redguards). None the less, she trained and studied, and worked around the farm, until Sudia, the family friend who had cared for Krinna had told her that the signs from her mother's prophesy were happening, it was time for her to return home. Skyrim, and the world, must be saved. 

"You! You're finally awake! You were trying to cross the border..." Krinna looked up at the blond man speaking to her... was that Ralof? She glared through her headache... 'oh good grief' she thought. It was probably for the best that he didn't recognize her. She almost didn't recognize him, he was just a teenager with the scraggly beginnings of a beard the last time she'd seen him. Then she realized they were still talking... 'Did he just say that was Ulfric Stormcloak?' She thought turning to look at the man... he was bound and gagged... she'd heard all about the war in letters from her brother, but she didn't know what he looked like. Krinna swore silently to herself, 'great, some hero I turn out to be... how do I get out of this?'

***  
Hadvar watched as the carriages moved in. This was it. They had captured Ulfric. The war was over. All he had to do was get past the unpleasantness of the executions. Why did he have to be the one in charge of the list?  
The prisoners were unloaded without issue, until they got to the last one... why in Oblivion did that look like his little sister? He stared at her blankly; "Who are you?"   
Hadvar hadn't seen his sister Krinnia in at least 15 years, he was only 12 and she was only 10 when her parents sent her to Hammerfell. Krinnia had had strawberry blond hair as a toddler, and then coppery red hair, the last time Hadvar saw her... so it was entirely possible the auburn-haired woman before him now was the same person... and he was certain those were the same dark blue eyes that he remembered...  
"Krinna Dovh" she replied staring back at him curiously and apprehensively.  
Hadvar was taken aback, that wasn't his sister's name, but close enough.  
"Captain, what should we do? She's not on the list." He hissed to the captain beside him.   
"Forget the list, she goes to the block!"  
'What?' Hadvar thought in panic, he offered some sorry excuse for an apology while Krinna, as she'd called herself, was led forward.   
Hadvar hardly noticed when one of the prisoners ran and was shot down by archers, and he was hardly paying attention when the first prisoner went to the block. His mind was continuously debating if that was Krinnia, and if it was how could he get her out of this... why in Oblivion had she gotten mixed up in that Stormcloak ambush? If that wasn't actually Krinnia he could risk his military career to save a random woman who was most likely a traitor... and then she was next to the block... and there was a noise off in the distance... Hadvar swore he saw something flying over the mountains...  
"Did you hear that?" He asked, both curious and hoping to delay the execution.  
"It's nothing!" General Tullius barked. The axe-man raised his axe, and Hadvar dropped his list and was just deciding on doing something crazy when the "nothing" landed on a rooftop in front of them, and all hell broke loose.

***  
Krinna had been cursing her luck and starting to ponder if her destiny was simply to meet Alduin in Sovengard when she realized that was probably him now... the huge black dragon rained fire down and the whole city was in flames within minutes. The prisoners and imperials alike scattered. Krinna stumbled to her feet and ran. She needed to find Hadvar, she hadn't seen him since they were kids, but she was sure that was him. His last letter had said he'd joined the Imperials, it all fit. Maybe she should have given him her birth name... but she hadn't gone by Krinnia in so long she'd forgotten till it was too late. 

She saw him and sprinted awkwardly toward him, her hands were still bound. He looked relieved to see her and they made their way frantically to the keep as fire rained from the sky. But then they were cut off by a group of escaping Stormcloak soldiers.  
"Ralof! You damned traitor. Out of my way!" Hadvar barked angrily.  
"We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time," Ralof declared.  
"Fine. I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde," Hadvar spat back before the dragon made another pass. "Come on! We need to get inside!" Hadvar yelled back to her.  
They darted into the keep through a different door than the one Ralof had entered.  
"Come here. Let me see if I can get those bindings off," Hadvar said, catching his breath.   
As he cut her bindings Krinna thought, Ralof had called him Hadvar. It was definitely him.  
"Hadvar," She began, "its me. Sudia sent-" she was cut off when Hadvar laughed and grabbed her in an embrace.  
"I was going half crazy trying to figure out if that was you and if I needed to do something crazy to rescue you, and if so what... ah I'm so glad you're alright." He grinned with a hand still on her shoulder. Krinna laughed.  
"Yeah, alright" she repeated making air-quotes at the word 'alright'.  
"It looks like you came back just in time... was that really Alduin? The bringer of the end times?"  
"Well, according to Ma I'm supposed to defeat him and save the world so..." Krinna shrugged.   
"So you've got some amazing Dragonborn powers then?" Hadvar asked hopefully.   
Krinna sighed, "none that I've discovered yet. For all I know Ma was crazy and we're all doomed."  
"No," Hadvar said warmly, "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Hadvar found her some armor and a sword, and they went through the keep and into the cave, then there were frostbite spiders and a bear, then finally, they were out.   
"I was starting to wonder if we'd ever make it!" Hadvar said in relief.  
***

"So what's your plan now?" Hadvar asked on their way to Riverwood.  
"We probably shouldn't tell Uncle Alvor and them that it's me. I don't want to stir up the past... not yet at least."  
"You should go to Solitude and join up with the Imperial Legion. We could really use someone like you." Hadvar said thoughtfully.   
Krinna sighed again, "I will. Sudia said Ma's prophecy said something about unifying Skyrim... but I need some time..."  
"Ah" Hadvar nodded.  
"I mean, I just got knocked out with a pretty heavy duty spell because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, then that captain was going to just execute first and ask questions later, and General Tullius was ok with it... I'm not ready to join his legion yet, I'm kind of mad."  
"I can't blame you," Hadvar nodded. "You should head for Whiterun then, they've managed to stay neutral."  
"Probably a good idea," Krinna agreed, "make camp somewhere, find some work, get enough coin for some proper gear... then we can see about Solitude."  
"You should join the Companions," Hadvar suggested, "they'll give you work and a roof over your head if you can earn your way in."  
"They're all about honorable battle and such right?"  
"Yeah, honor and glory in battle" Hadvar nodded, "might good place for the Dragonborn to get her start, eh?"  
"Might be," Krinna nodded.

***


	5. Rumors

Farkas was trying not to mope since Lydia's promotion. He'd been excited to go fight a giant with his shield-sister, Aela... it got him out of Jorrvaskr, and he got to prove his strength against a giant. It was the kind of adrenaline fueled fight that Farkas loved, and by the time the giant was dead, he was in a better mood. Then he noticed Aela was talking to a stranger... it was a Nord woman in singed imperial armor... she smelled like fire, burned leather, and sweat, there was also an underlying sweet smell that Farkas couldn't identify at this distance. She reminded him of Lydia... she was the same height, with maybe a slightly slimmer frame... her hair was an auburn red instead of chocolate brown, her jaw was a little more square, her skin was a little more tan, her lips were more red, and her eyes were a darker blue. She was pretty, Farkas thought, but not as pretty as Lydia...

He heard her ask Aela about joining the Companions and that got his attention. He noticed she had a pair of iron swords and he wondered if she could use them... Aela invited her to talk to Kodlak, so she must have been at least alright...

***

Vilkas was eating lunch after training one of the whelps, Ria... she was pretty, but she was young, over-enthusiastic, and whiny. Vilkas found her annoying, why had she wanted to learn two-handed weapons in the first place?

He was pulled from his thoughts when Farkas and his shield-sister, Aela, returned to the hall. Farkas sat down heavily in the chair beside Vilkas, he was still covered in sweat and gore.

"You stink," Vilkas growled. Farkas laughed.

"Yeah, I need a bath, but first, food and drink!"

He grabbed the mug Tilma offered gratefully and chugged. "You should have woken up early and come with us!" Farkas said when he put the mug down at last.

"I didn't think you needed help with a giant," Vilkas said condescendingly.

"We didn't," Farkas said still grinning, "but I bet it was more fun than whatever else you were doing all morning."

"Probably," Vilkas grumbled, thinking again of the whining whelps.

"Oh, and we met a traveler who asked about joining us," Farkas continued. Vilkas raised an eyebrow. "Aela told her where to find us and to speak to Kodlak. She seemed alright to me."

"Just alright is not Companion material," Vilkas grumbled, while thinking to himself 'great, another whelp for me to deal with.'

"Maybe not, but that'll be for Kodlak to decide... if she ever actually shows up." Farkas shrugged and went back to his mug of ale.

***

Krinna had been excited at the prospect of work when the Jarl had offered, and Bleakfalls Barrow had been full of useful loot. The draugr hadn't been a surprise, she'd read about them. What had almost gotten her into trouble was the fact that until a few days ago, she'd only ever actually swung her sword at training dummies, and draugr don't feel pain like living things do. Sudia had taught her some simple healing magic and destruction spells, but being a Nord, Krinna avoided magic as much as she could. Fortunately healing potions had been among the useful loot she'd found so she'd only resorted to a healing spell once.

What really surprised her was the word wall she found in the back of the barrow... there hadn't been a whole lot of information on dragon's available in Hammerfell, and even less information on the language of the dragons, but as she stood before an entire wall of draconian writing one word in particular stood out to her... her vision darkened and for a moment that one word was all she could see... 'fus... force...' she knew that word... whether she'd known it all along or just learned it she couldn't tell, but she knew it now for certain... "maybe Ma wasn't crazy..." she whispered to the now silent barrow.

She returned quickly to the Jarl's court wizard with the stone tablet she'd retrieved, and was almost immediately called to aid the city... there was a dragon attacking one of the watchtowers. Excited that this might finally show her her destiny, she rushed with Jarl's guards, and Irileth, his housecarl, out to the watchtower.

Once the archers had brought the dragon from the air, Krinna had leapt at it with her swords. Her left sword dug in to the scales and she used it to hang on while the dragon thrashed about and she slashed at its face with her right.

Once the dragon finally fell dead, Krinna stumbled back, her legs feeling wobbly as the adrenaline wore off. Then there was a sudden rush of wind as a power flew from the dragon and into her very being. She felt her body absorbing this strange power, she felt... strong... not physically at the moment, but she felt an inner strength that she'd previously only pretended to have... She knew now, she was actually the Dragonborn. 'Which means,' she thought, 'that I really do have to defeat Alduin... crap.'

***

Vilkas had been in the yard training some more when they all heard the thundering cry from High Hrothgar... so a Dragonborn was being summoned... Vilkas wasn't sure if it was comforting to know a Dragonborn had returned along with the dragons, or if it was unsettling to know that the rumors of dragons were probably true. Either way, it didn't seem to be affecting Jorrvaskr much yet, but knowing something was coming was making the beast blood drive him more crazy than normal. He wondered if Kodlak would find their cure before the end times...


	6. Chapter 6

Later in the evening, Vilkas was talking to Kodlak about their struggle again when he heard Tilma direct a newcomer to Kodlak's study. He smelled her before he saw her, she was wearing poorly fitted old iron armor that smelled like she'd pulled it off of dead bandits... she pulled off her iron helmet to address Kodlak politely. Vilkas swore silently to himself; Farkas had mentioned a random traveler who wanted to join them... he hadn't mentioned she was beautiful... auburn hair, suntanned skin, and dark blue eyes... he couldn't see much of her figure under the armor, but he could see her arms were slim and well toned... judging by her height she was probably a nord... Vilkas scowled as Kodlak commented kindly on her 'strength of spirit.' He was having a hard enough time ignoring the call of his beast blood, he didn't need to add training a new beautiful (but probably as obnoxious as the others) whelp to his list of concerns.

"Master, you're not truly considering accepting her?" He protested.

"I am nobody's master, Vilkas." Kodlak chided, "And last I checked, we had some empty beds in Jorrvaskr for those with a fire burning in their hearts."

'Great,' Vilkas thought, he probably wasn't going to talk Kodlak out of this... "Apologies." He replied, "But perhaps this isn't the time. I've never even heard of this outsider." She was looking at him now, he could tell she already disliked him, but her dark blue eyes made his heart race... no, he did not need this right now... he almost didn't realize Kodlak was speaking again.

"... Sometimes men and women come to us to seek their fame. It makes no difference. What matters is their heart."

"And their arm." Vilkas grumbled.

"Of course," Kodlak nodded looking back to the newcomer. "How are you in battle, girl?"

"I have much to learn," she said calmly, but Vilkas could tell she thought she was being humble. That irritated him.

"That's the spirit," Kodlak smiled. "Vilkas, here, will get started on that."

'What?!' Vilkas wanted to snap as he tore his eyes from the newcomer's face, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise to him, he was the Master-at-Arms after all... Kodlak smiled at him...

"Vilkas, take her out to the yard and see what she can do."

...that damn old wolf could certainly hear his heart racing... Vilkas realized Kodlak knew exactly what this newcomer was doing to him.Vilkas wanted to argue, but he couldn't refuse the Harbinger. "Aye." Vilkas grumbled instead. He got to his feet and headed to the yard. The newcomer followed without question, but he could practically feel her eyes boring into him all the way out to the yard. He grabbed his sword and shield.

"The old man said to have a look at you, so let's do this," he turned to face her. She had put her helmet back on and drew her swords uncertainly. "Just have a few swings at me so I can see your form," Vilkas raised his shield and got into a fighting stance. "Don't worry, I can take it."

Vilkas was impressed. Her form was good, she used two short swords and appeared to be truly ambidextrous with them. She already hit harder than any of the whelps he was training too. Her footwork needed practice, and she wasn't good at blocking... that might be why she thought heavy armor was a good idea... and if she could move well enough in it it was... Vilkas had seen enough, he's almost changed his mind about her. He motioned to her that they were done, and lowered his shield.

"Not bad." He smiled, "Next time won't be so easy. You might just make it." She took her helmet off and smiled back at him. Vilkas's heart skipped and the beast blood pounded in his ears... she was beautiful and she could fight... he was in trouble. He couldn't be friendly right now... "But for now, you're still a whelp to us, new blood." He added with a stern scowl, "So you do what we tell you. Here's my sword. Go take it up to Eorlund to have it sharpened. And be careful, it's probably worth more than you are."

Her brow furrowed at him and she scowled back in kind, but she took his sword without complaint. She looked around for a moment in confusion and Vilkas rolled his eyes and pointed up toward the forge. At that she nodded and left without another word.

Vilkas sighed and went inside and back down to Kodlak's study. Skjor was at the table.

"Alright," he said gruffly approaching, "the new blood passes. She has a pretty good arm actually," he admitted.

"Good," Kodlak nodded appreciatively, "where is she now?"

"I sent her to Eorland to sharpen my sword."

"I hope you weren't too harsh with her," Kodlak sighed. Vilkas grunted in response.

"I'll go have Farkas show her where the whelps sleep," Skjor volunteered as he turned to go back upstairs.

"I'll be in my room," Vilkas grumbled, walking away as well.Once in his room he grabbed a book from his shelf and sat down at the table beside his bed.

***

Farkas had watched curiously as Vilkas brought a stranger out to the yard for testing. He'd immediately recognized her as the woman he and Aela had met a few days ago. Farkas also hadn't missed the awed expression that flashed briefly across his brother's face when the woman took her helmet off. He knew Vilkas was smitten. Farkas chuckled quietly to himself before heading back inside.

Several minutes later Skjor called him to show the new blood to the living quarters. She introduced herself as Krinna. She seemed relieved to be shown to a bed she could use whenever she chose. He left her to settle in and went to see his brother.

He found Vilkas in his room reading a book.

"I showed Krinna to the living quarters," he told Vilkas with a slight smile. "What'd you think of her?"

"Who?" Vilkas snapped looking up from his book irritably.

"The new blood you just tested in the yard," Farkas deadpanned.

"Oh."

"So..."

"She's definitely a cut above the normal whelps," Vilkas sighed, "she's got a good arm and good form."

Farkas had definitely never heard his brother say anything so complimentary of a new blood. "You like her," he smirked.

"Shut up!" Vilkas growled, but Farkas could tell his brother was so agitated because he was right. If the praise he'd just given her wasn't enough, the way Vilkas's pulse had picked up gave it all away. Farkas just laughed and left Vilkas to his book.


	7. Companions

In the days that followed Krinna had gone back to Dragonsreach to speak with the Jarl. He'd named her a Thane of Whiterun for her aid in killing the dragon. That new title had earned her some gold, and a housecarl... 'What the heck am I going to do with a housecarl?' She wondered to herself as she approached the woman.

"The Jarl has appointed me to be your housecarl. It's an honor to serve you." she greeted... so this was Lydia... they were the same height... probably about the same age... the biggest difference between them was their hair color, Krinna noted curiously.

"What does a housecarl do?" Krinna asked in confusion.

"As my Thane, I'm sworn to your service. I'll guard you, and all you own, with my life." Lydia answered respectfully.

Krinna sighed. "I don't really own anything, I've been staying at Jorrvaskr."

"I can always hang out at Dragonsreach until you need me," Lydia shrugged.

"That'll probably be best for now," Krinna agreed.

The rest of that week, Krinna trained with Farkas to better utilize her heavy armor, practiced with her swords, and avoided Vilkas. A few of the other whelps were a little hostile, but almost everyone else in the Companions was pretty friendly so far. Kodlak and Farkas were particularly kind, and Aela and Skjor weren't unfriendly. She couldn't figure out what Vilkas's problem had been.

***

Farkas quickly noticed how fast Krinna learned, and she already knew a lot about Skyrim for a Nord who'd grown up elsewhere.

She quickly surpassed the other whelps he was training... but Farkas noticed she had been avoiding Vilkas, which he thought was a shame. Farkas didn't mind holding a conversation with her, he thought Krinna made for great company, but she wasn't Lydia. She didn't listen in fascination to the more gruesome details of his most recent fight like Lydia would, she had less appreciation for his simple outlook on life than Lydia did. He frequently couldn't help noticing Krinna tended more toward the types of conversation Vilkas would have enjoyed a lot more than he did. Farkas also noticed the fact that he was training Krinna and Vilkas wasn't was definitely putting Vilkas in a lousy mood.

***

One evening Krinna went to the hall for dinner and found Farkas sitting alone.

"Hey," she smiled, "can I join you?"

"Sure," Farkas shrugged and motioned to the chair beside him. "But my brother Vilkas is a better talker than me. He should be around someplace."

"Uh... I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me though," Krinna said raising her eyebrow.

"Nah," Farkas shook his head, "he's always rough on the new bloods, but he had good things to say about you when I asked."

"Really?" Krinna asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Farkas nodded, "you should try talking to him."

That surprised Krinna. She finished dinner talking to Farkas, she asked about the other members of the Companions, and about him and Vilkas. By the time she told Farkas goodnight, he had convinced her to possibly stop avoiding Vilkas... at least a little bit.

***

Vilkas was sitting at the outside table eating a late breakfast when Farkas finished training for the morning. Farkas joined him at the table.

"You know," he said grabbing a mug, "you could be nicer to our newest whelp, she thinks you don't like her."

"I've barely seen her since the day she got here!" Vilkas grumbled.

"Is that why you've been so grumpy lately?" Farkas teased. Vilkas growled.

"How's she doing?" He asked after a moment.

"She's good," Farkas replied, "she learns fast. Skjor thinks she'll be ready for her Proving soon."

That did impress Vilkas... 'damn it,' he thought. Why did he have to be stuck with the whelps that whined and took forever to pick things up?

"I don't suppose she wants to learn two-handed weapons?" He joked.

"She might if she thought you were more approachable," Farkas shrugged.

"Right," Vilkas sighed, "I'll work on that."

When he saw her in the hall later that day, he offered her a friendly nod, "you know, you can come to me with questions," he told her, "I know our history almost as well as Vignar by now, except I can remember it." That earned him a genuine smile from her in response, and a question about the Companions' history. Vilkas did his best to keep his heart rate in check while he told her of Ysgramor and his five hundred Companions.

The following day Vilkas was reading his book in his room again when Farkas walked in.

"What's 'Dragonborn'?" He asked. Vilkas looked up from his book in surprise. He'd been reading the only book he could find on the matter since he'd heard the rumors of dragons. It was also a good distraction from the fact his brother was training the beautiful new whelp and he wasn't. But Farkas had never been one to notice or care what Vilkas was reading about.

"Ancient heroes of legend," he said handing his brother the book, "said to have the soul of a dragon." Farkas took the book in surprise and Vilkas realized he hadn't asked because of the book. "Why?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at his brother.

"Krinna got summoned by the Graybeards," he replied, "she left this morning." Vilkas gawked at his brother as he processed that bit of information... their new whelp was beautiful, she could fight, she learned quickly, and... she was the Dragonborn...


	8. Beast Blood

When Farkas first heard Krinna was the Dragonborn, he had been afraid that meant she would leave them. He was afraid Vilkas would end up in the same pitiful position he was in; pining after a woman he'd probably never see again.

Krinna did leave, but she came back. When she returned from her training with the Graybeards, Skjor chose Farkas to be her shield-brother for her trial. She passed it easily, in spite of the run-in they had with the Silver Hand.

What really convinced Farkas she was honorable and worthy of joining the Circle, though, was how she reacted to the discovery of his beast blood.

Farkas had expected her to be afraid of him, or disgusted, but she wasn't. She was understandably cautious when she first saw him again after he'd transformed back into a man, but she calmed down once she'd realized he was himself and no feral beast. She'd had several questions, but beyond that she treated him no differently... and more importantly, she still went through with her initiation. Knowing she was literally joining a pack of wolves, and she still respected them and treated all of them no differently.

All of the Circle members he been impressed by that actually... so Farkas wasn't surprised Skjor and Aela had decided to offer her the beast blood... he was surprised they'd tried to do it in secret...

Farkas couldn't wrap his mind around what Skjor could have been thinking. He and Aela had tried to turn Krinna in secret, and then immediately after turning her they'd tried to assault the Silver Hand with just the three of them... but the part that really confused Farkas was that Skjor had apparently charged into the hideout alone. Skjor was one of their strongest, most experienced warriors... he was the one who'd so often reminded whelps to take a shield-sibling... and he'd gone in alone and gotten killed. Farkas couldn’t understand why. Did he think he was invincible? Had he just not expected so many of them? How could a legendary warrior have made such a mistake? It made no sense, Farkas just couldn't wrap his mind around Skjor doing something so stupid...

Now that he was gone, Farkas didn’t imagine he’d ever understand it.

***

Some weeks later Krinna lay in her bed in Jorrvaskr unable to sleep, wondering what she'd gotten herself into. So much had happened since she'd first reached Whiterun. She answered the summons to High Hrothgar, erasing any doubts she'd had that she was the Dragonborn. She took several jobs with the Companions to earn herself some coin, she wanted better amor before she went after the horn of Juergen Windcaller. But then she'd gotten caught up with the Companions' business after that. She hadn't even had time to write to Hadvar and Sudia, or visit Lydia. She'd won the confidence of the Companions, (even Vilkas had started being nice to her) and she'd discovered the secret of the circle, and now she was one of them... when Farkas and Aela had explained it she'd thought the beast blood would help, after all, she'd need all the help she could get to defeat the dragons... so when Skjor and Aela had called her to the Underforge she'd agreed... but then they'd lost Skjor to the Silver hand and she'd been roped into avenging him.

The beast blood was distracting her, it was true all of her senses were heightened, but she couldn't turn it off, the blood-lust, the restlessness... most people couldn't tell anything was different about her, some guards had commented on her smelling like a wet dog, but beyond that no one outside the Circle knew anything had changed. She could hear people's heartbeats, she could smell them before they entered a room, her sight was much sharper especially in the dark. At first she thought it would be useful, but she was realizing it was just distracting. Most people she could tune out, but then there was Vilkas...

As far as Krinna could tell, he was the only Companion who had studied his books just as much as he had his combat training, and he intrigued her. Ever since Farkas had assured her that Vilkas didn't dislike her, she couldn't help but notice how he seemed to watch her whenever she entered the room. With the beast blood now she'd also noticed how his heart sped up when he looked at her. At first she had worried it was because he hated her, his adrenaline was flowing because he wanted to rip her throat out or something. But after a few days, she realized he wasn't glaring at her, he was kind of smiling. It came as a bit of a sudden shock when she realized he might find her attractive. After all, most Redgaurds didn't find Nords attractive, so she'd never actually been hit on or flirted with... she had no idea how to respond... so she just didn't. She tried to treat Vilkas the same as she did any of the other Companions, but over the weeks she began to find herself thinking of those ice-blue eyes and his subtle smile...

'Nope,' Krinna mentally shook herself. That was definitely all kinds of a distraction she didn't have time for... she was the Dragonborn, she could entertain the idea of romance if she survived saving the world...

Her mind went back to the beast blood. Kodlak told her she couldn't enter Sovengarde like that, and her mother's prophesy had said she would have to go to Sovengarde... which probably meant she wouldn't survive saving the world... and definitely didn't have time for romance... Krinna shook her head, she needed to focus. The beast blood had to go. Kodlak told her a cure could be found by killing the witches that had originally done this to them. She'd leave for that in the morning. If she could only get some damn sleep...

***

It was the night after Krinna had left on Kodlak's secret job... Farkas awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of his door opening. Several things registered in his mind at once; there was a commotion coming from down the hall; three figures were in his doorway; and he smelled silver. The three Silver Hand members rushed into his room, but Farkas was already up with his great sword in hand. With a furious battle yell Farkas cleaved into two of them at once. The third managed to catch him across the arm with his sword and the silver burned. Farkas gave another howl of rage as he pulled his sword free and swung it mercilessly down at his assailant. The Silver Hand member raised his sword to deflect, but Farkas came down with such force, skyforge steel proved to be stronger than silver, and the man died quickly.

Farkas heard similar yells of rage coming from his brother's room and he charged across the hall. He arrived in time to see Vilkas dispatch of his last attacker as well. The brothers exchanged understanding glances, before Farkas darted back to his own room. He put his armor on in record time, and then charged down the hall to the rest of the fray.

***

Vilkas cleaned his sword, still fuming with rage. The Silver Hand had had the audacity to attack Jorrvaskr in the middle of the night. At first he'd thought the Companions had won the day, so few Silver Hand had escaped, but then he'd realized the price of their 'victory.'

The Silver Hand was going to pay, he swore to himself. Vilkas was just starting to look around the room, deciding on a shield-sibling who would be up to this mission, when Krinna rushed in the door. A wave of anger rose fresh in his chest.

"Where have you been?" He demanded glaring at their newest member.

"I was doing Kodlak's bidding," she said quickly looking wide-eyed at him.

The fact she hadn't been off wasting time doing something foolish mollified his anger slightly.

"I hope it was important, because it means you weren't here to defend him," Vilkas replied darkly.

"What happened?" Krinna asked, looking around in horror.

"One of the fiercest battles I've ever seen." Vilkas replied darkly, "The Silver Hand. They finally found enough courage to attack Jorrvaskr. We fought them off, but... The old man... Kodlak... he's dead." Vilkas watched the look of shock spread across Krinna's face, followed by anguish, as she looked around the room. Vilkas watched as her eyes landed on Kodlak's body, and Farkas sitting next to it, and he saw the anger rising in her expression and he decided right then who his shield-sibling would be when he went to take their revenge.

"Was anyone else hurt?" She asked looking back to him.

"No, but they made off with all our fragments of Wuuthrad," Vilkas said angrily. "But you and I are going to reclaim them," he told her firmly, leaving no room for argument. "We will bring the battle to their chief camp. There will be none left living to tell their stories. Only songs of Jorrvaskr will be sung. We will avenge Kodlak. And they will know terror before the end," he ranted.

Krinna nodded. "Where are we going and when do we leave?"

"Driftshade," Vilkas growled, "as soon as you're ready."

"Good," Krinna answered, and Vilkas realized she was almost as angry as he was. She turned and walked quickly to the living quarters but was back only two minutes later. She spread a map of Skyrim out on one of the tables and studied it for a moment, before pointing at the Driftshade camp of the Silver Hand, and tracing a line back to Whiterun with her finger. Then she rolled the map back up and slid it into her pack. Vilkas watched as she spared another look at Kodlak and tears began to well in her eyes. "Let's go," she said angrily looking back to Vilkas.

"Aye," Vilkas growled before following her out the door.

In spite of his anger and grief, Vilkas was a little impressed to see that the newest member of the Circle was almost as bent on vengeance as he was. Once they left Whiterun she turned off the road and began walking straight over the fields, towards the trees.

"Where in Oblivion do you think you're going?" He barked at her irritably. She turned back almost as irritably,

"Driftshade," she pointed, "I checked the map, there aren't any major barriers, we can cut straight there in probably half the time."

"You know they make roads for a reason," Vilkas grumbled.

"Roads take too long," she shot back.

"Roads are safer though." At that comment she looked back at him in exasperation.

"Vilkas, what exactly do you think we're going to run into in these woods that's more dangerous than two angry Companions?" She demanded. If Vilkas had been in a better mood he would have laughed. As it was he let out a grim chuckle.

"Fair point," he said as he followed her off the road. "But if you get us lost..."

"I won't."

Vilkas quickly noticed she had an uncanny sense of direction. They got to Driftshade in half the time, and the Silver Hand never knew what hit them. It was the first time Vilkas had really seen the Dragonborn in action, and he had to admit to himself, he was impressed. She kept up with him. If Vilkas's mind hadn't been so full of rage and grief, his beast blood would have been gnawing at him to make her his mate.As it was, even in his rage, the sight of her angrily slicing through Silver Hand members was arousing. It took him several minutes to calm down after the last Silver Hand member fell.

It only took two of them and the Silver Hand would never bother the Companions again. Krinna had even found the fragments of Wuuthrad.

"Let's get back to Jorrvaskr. We'll want to pay our respects to Kodlak's spirit," Vilkas said. Now that vengeance had been had, his anger was giving way to grief. He could tell by the look on Krinna's face she was feeling the same. Part of him wanted to reach out and comfort her, to take comfort in her embrace, but this was not the time. Grumpily, Vilkas stalked back to Whiterun and the Dragonborn followed.


	9. The Harbinger

Farkas didn't know what to do. The mentor, who was practically a second father to him, was gone... just like his adoptive father... just like the parents he barely remembered... Farkas didn't know how to wrap his mind around it, he was at a total loss.

Fortunately, after Vilkas and Krinna had stormed off to take their vengeance, Vilkas had remembered Kodlak's plan for curing them, and Krinna had been able to follow through with it. Neither Farkas nor Vilkas had managed to continue on to the tomb to witness the cleansing process, but she had come back, no longer a werewolf, with Aela announcing Kodlak had named Krinna their new Harbinger.

Farkas hadn't known how to wrap his mind around that one at first either, but he did register one thing. She was no longer a werewolf. They could actually be cured...

Farkas mulled it over for a few days after they'd gotten back to Jorrvaskr and decided he wanted to go to Sovengarde like Kodlak. He asked Krinna what he needed to do one morning as soon as she came upstairs. It had hardly been a week since she'd cured Kodlak and herself. Farkas had expected her to agree to take him back later, but to his excitement and surprise, she agreed on the spot and they left for the tomb that very morning.

At the less rushed pace, they took a day to camp on the road and made it back to Ysgramor's tomb by the evening of the second day.

Krinna explained what the process was going to entail and made sure Farkas was ready for it.

He followed Krinna down an old spiral staircase, and entered the central chamber of the tomb. Farkas stared in awe at the blue burning fire in the center brazier.

"Ready?" Krinna asked as she pulled a witch head from her bag.

"Mmhmm," Farkas nodded. Krinna tossed the head into the fire and it immediately burst into flames. Farkas stumbled as there was a searing pain throughout his whole body. It felt like half his soul was ripped away. Then, suddenly, the pain was gone and there was a huge, spectral wolf in front of him. Krinna drew her swords and the wolf lunged at her. Farkas drew his sword as well and charged at the beast. He cleaved into it and it spun back to snap at him, and Krinna slashed into its now exposed side. The wolf yelped and spun back toward Krinna, but Farkas lunged at it again, forcing it to focus on him. The fight felt longer than it probably was, but finally Krinna lunged out of the way as Farkas delivered the killing blow. Farkas stumbled, panting for breath as the wolf disappeared and a comfortable feeling settled into his body. His mind was suddenly clearer than it had been in years.

"Are you ok?" He heard Krinna ask as she approached him.

"Its like I'm relaxing into a mug of warm spiced mead," he said looking up at her in amazement. "I'm losing aches I didn't even know I had." He stood up and stretched. "This is how a warrior should feel. Alive and alert. Not clouded with thoughts of the hunt."

"It's wonderful isn't it?" Krinna commented with a smile.

"It is," he nodded. "Thank you, Harbinger."

"No problem," Krinna smiled. "What'll you do now? I need to go take care of some Dragonborn stuff."

Farkas thought for a moment before answering. "I'm going to stay in the tomb for a while," he decided. "My shame kept me out before, but now I want to see it," he explained with a grin.

"Alright," Krinna nodded. "I'll see you back at Jorrvaskr."

***

Vilkas sighed. He finally had time to sit in his room and reflect. It had been several months since Krinna had joined the Companions, and now she was their new Harbinger. Vilkas had been surprised at first, but when he thought about it, it made sense. He would trust Kodlak's final judgement, but he might have a problem if he was falling for the new Harbinger...

Vilkas thought back to all those weeks ago, when she had first come back to Jorrvaskr in properly fitting armor and he'd gotten a decent idea of her figure... Vilkas knew he truly was doomed then. It only got worse the longer she stayed, and now that she was Harbinger she wasn't likely to go anywhere. What was worse, he knew Aela and Farkas knew it too; he knew they could hear his pulse every time he saw her.

He was also sure Krinna could hear his heart pounding every time they interacted, sometimes he thought her pulse would quicken the same way, but he never could be sure, it definitely might be wishful thinking. She'd cured herself of the beast blood shortly after curing Kodlak's soul. Vilkas had decided he was going to ask her for help curing himself the first chance he got, he wanted to go to Sovengarde eventually too.But then Farkas had somehow beat him to it. She'd obliged happily, and then she'd taken off on her own again. "Dragonborn stuff," was all she'd told Farkas when he'd asked before she left.

When Vilkas noticed how troubled his brother was about her sudden departure he had worried his brother was falling for her as well...

***


	10. Clean

At a leisurely pace, it took Farkas three days to walk home from the tomb of Ysgramor. He felt great. His mind was clearer than it had been in years, and when he stopped to camp he actually slept. There were no dreams of the hunt, no urges to sink his teeth into flesh, just sleep. It was bliss.

The thing that did keep coming back to his mind was Lydia. He hadn't seen her in months, and he still regretted that he never told her how he felt. Now that he had been cleansed he wished more than ever that he could see her again.

When he made it back to Jorrvaskr and found Krinna still wasn't back from her "Dragonborn stuff" he was worried. He wasn't interested in her like he was Lydia, but especially now that she'd helped him cleanse himself, he found he definitely felt brotherly affection for her. He couldn't hide his concern when Vilkas asked where she was. Vilkas was obviously troubled as well. Farkas knew Vilkas wanted to cure himself too, so he wasn't surprised when Vilkas came to his room later that evening. He was surprised Vilkas didn't ask about the cleansing at all.

"Listen brother," Vilkas said, and he sounded a little uneasy as he took a seat at the bar in Farkas's room.

Farkas got a couple bottles of mead out from his personal collection and handed one to his brother as he sat down as well. He watched Vilkas attentively while he appeared to consider his words carefully.

"I don't want it to come between us if we both have feeling for the new Harbinger," he said at last.

Farkas blinked at him in surprise. He'd known Vilkas was smitten since the day Krinna arrived at Jorrvaskr, but he hadn't expected him to admit it. He wondered when he'd even admitted it to himself. Farkas's surprise was slowly replaced by a smug smirk.

"'Bout time you figured it out," Farkas chuckled. Vilkas looked crestfallen.

"I... I see. I won't try to interfere," he said, not meeting his eye.

"Wait, what?" Farkas was confused for a moment, then the other half of Vilkas's meaning hit him. "Oh, no," Farkas shook his head. "I meant it was about time you figured out _your_ feelings. I..." Farkas paused. He'd never even mentioned Lydia to Vilkas... mostly because it would mean admitting how he felt about her... Farkas realized if Vilkas was admitting his feelings for Krinna, it was well past time he admitted his feelings for Lydia, at least to his brother. Farkas sighed and Vilkas looked up at him in confusion. Farkas took a long drink.

"Krinna's a good friend," Farkas said, putting his bottle down slowly, "she's pretty and she's good company... I care for her, but not like you do." Farkas paused again. "...I've got eyes for someone else," he said at last with a sigh. Vilkas just looked back at him in surprise, his expression slowly shifted to thoughtful confusion as he no doubt tried to figure out who it could be.

"I don't think you know her," Farkas told him before he got any wild ideas. "I met her at the Bannered Mare... she was a guard, but she got promoted to housecarl." Farkas sighed again and drained the rest of his bottle. "I haven't seen her in months... probably'll never see her again," he added gloomily.

"Does she know you're interested?" Vilkas asked, still sounding surprised.

"Never told her," Farkas shrugged. "Didn't know what she'd think if she ever found out about the beast blood... and well... the wolf wanted her... figured I needed to be sure I did too." Farkas reached for a second bottle of mead and Vilkas just looked at him in surprise.

"That's... smart..." Vilkas said slowly with a slightly awed look on his face. Farkas chuckled.

"I'm a bit slow, but I'm not stupid," he shrugged. "I knew you were sweet on Krinna the first day she came to Jorrvaskr," he added with a chuckle.

"I know, I know," Vilkas groaned, "you were right."

"That's not something I get told often," Farkas laughed. He was glad he'd managed to divert the conversation away from Lydia, it was making his chest ache to talk about her. "When did you figure it out?" He asked, taking another drink.

Vilkas sighed, and for a moment he simply considered Farkas with a raised eyebrow. Farkas was reminded that Vilkas could read him just as well as he could read Vilkas... he was pretty sure Vilkas had picked up on the fact he was trying to divert the conversation. To his relief Vilkas gave a slight shrug before looking away and taking a moment looking lost in thought, no doubt considering Farkas's question now.

"I don't know," Vilkas said at last, taking another drink from his own bottle. "I never denied she's beautiful... she impressed me at Driftshade... and then she cleansed Kodlak's soul... I guess it all hit me when I finally had time to think after we got back from the tomb." Vilkas shook his head with another sigh, and downed the rest of his drink.

"She's honorable," Farkas nodded, "and she likes all that history and legend stuff you like to read about."

"Really?" Vilkas chuckled.

"Mmhmm," Farkas nodded. "You should talk to her more."

"Maybe now that she has Wuuthrad, she'll want to learn two-handed weapons," Vilkas said hopefully.

"She might," Farkas shrugged as he handed Vilkas another bottle. "I'll suggest it to her if you want."

Vilkas just chuckled at that and took a long drink. "I'd appreciate that," he sighed. "Or maybe I'll get the nerve to suggest it if she'll help me cleanse myself..."

"She will," Farkas nodded simply. "She's honorable and she cares about her shield-siblings. I'll bet she offers to drop everything and leave for the tomb the minute you ask her to," Farkas added with a chuckle. Vilkas looked back at Farkas with a slight smirk.

"That must be one amazing housecarl you're sweet on," he chuckled, "for you to be so impressed with Krinna and still sweet on her instead..."

Farkas didn't know what to say to that... it wasn't that Lydia was in many ways better than Krinna... she wasn't... she was just better for him... or at least he thought so.

Even if he'd never met Lydia, he would probably still thought that Krinna would be better for Vilkas than she was for him. Farkas knew his brother better than anyone, and every time he got the chance to talk with Krinna she said or did something that made him think Vilkas would like her.

"She is," Farkas sighed after a long pause, "but I still doubt I'll ever see her again." He took a long drink.

"I'm sorry brother," Vilkas replied gently, "I won't press you if you'd rather not speak of her."

Farkas gave a grateful nod before continuing. "Krinna's the Dragonborn," he said setting another empty bottle down. "Epic destiny, stuff of legend, prophecies... too complicated for me," he shrugged. "I've thought you two would get along for a while now."

Vilkas just nodded with a hopeful smile at that. Farkas was glad to see him looking a little more hopeful.

They finished their drinks and Farkas realized it was much easier for a man to get drunk than it was for a werewolf. Farkas vaguely remembered Vilkas laughing at him and helping him stumble to his bed. He was definitely not pleased with the hangover he had in the morning, but at least it had been a good talk with his brother. He couldn't remember if he'd actually told Vilkas Lydia's name...

***

It was days before the Harbinger returned, giving Vilkas several restless nights listening to his brother's happy snoring across the hall and thinking...

Suddenly Vilkas heard the door to Jorrvaskr open, followed by the clunks of heavy boots overhead. A chair scraped across the floor and a body in heavy armor sat heavily into the chair. Stealth was definitely not their new Harbinger's strong suit... Vilkas slipped out of bed, he wasn't sleeping anyway. He opened the door of the living quarters quietly, then he caught the waft of her scent, confirming it was her.

"Everything alright, Harbinger?" He asked, approaching tentatively. She sighed and pulled her horned helmet off, letting it clang to the table beside her. She slapped a scrap of parchment on the table beside the helmet. Vilkas sat down in the chair next to her and read the note.

"Attic room?" He repeated once he'd read it.

"Yeah," The Harbinger grumbled. "That's what I found in the tomb of Juergen Windcaller where his horn was supposed to be. I grew up in Riverwood, I'm pretty sure there is no attic room at the Sleeping Giant."

"Which means who ever left this note would know it's you as soon as you asked for it," Vilkas reasoned.

"Exactly," she grumbled, "it's either another damn test or it's a trap."

Vilkas nodded and thought for a moment. "You know," he said slowly, "just because it's 'Dragonborn stuff' doesn't mean you can't take a shield-sibling with you. We'd all be glad to aid you any time."

Krinna sighed again. "Thank you, but I need a break. Is there any work to be done around here?"

"There's always work to be done here, but I have something personal weighing on my mind tonight."


	11. “Dragonborn Stuff”

Krinna wasn't sure why it surprised her that Vilkas had asked to be cured, Farkas had been so happy, and she knew first hand how lovely it was to get a proper night sleep again. She could only imagine how exhausting it must have been to have the beast blood for so many years. And Vilkas made a much better traveling companion now that he wasn't furious over Kodlak's death. They actually made small talk on the way back to Ysgramor's tomb.

Once the fight with his wolf spirit had been won the smile of relief on his face almost made Krinna's heart melt. She decided she'd wait for him to get back to Jorrvaskr before she left again for Riverwood. He definitely was growing on her.

***

Vilkas spent a day in the tomb with Ysgramor, and nearly 3 days to walk back to Whiterun. Every night he camped was a better sleep than he'd gotten in years. He felt so alive.

Vilkas was surprised to find the new Harbinger still in Jorrvaskr when he got back. She approached him with a grin, Vilkas thought his heart might beat out of his chest. After talking with her and learning more about her on the way to the tomb, he found her fascinating as well as beautiful.

"So... remember when you offered to come with me to Riverwood?"

"The offer still stands," he nodded, hoping he didn't look overly eager. Had she been waiting for him?

"Great," she said, and Vilkas noticed her eyes sparkled when she smiled like that, "I'd like you to rest up so we can leave day after tomorrow."

"We can leave now if you like," Vilkas shrugged.

"Oh no," Krinna shook her head, with a laugh, and then she leaned in and whispered "I will not rob you of your first night in a real bed without beast blood. You deserve at least a night in your own bed."

'What about a night in your bed?' The thought crossed his mind, and Vilkas barely resisted the urge to say it out loud. Instead he just stared, he'd never been this close to her. His eyes met hers and he swallowed and glanced at her lips. Clearly the wolf hadn't been the only one who was falling hard for his new Harbinger. She smirked and put a hand on his shoulder, leaning back to a normal speaking distance. Her smirk shifted back to a smile.

"I'm going to go shop for potions, rest well!" She said, still smiling as she turned away. Vilkas didn't even try not to stare as she left. Had she meant to do that? Did she actually know what she did to him? He couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore so he had no idea.

***

Krinna stood outside Jorrvaskr for a few moments shaking her head. What was she doing? Vilkas needed to rest, she shouldn't have asked him to come with her the minute he got in the door. She'd just gotten over excited... and leaned in to whisper to him... and gotten that reaction out of him... he'd practically gotten dazed... and his ice-blue eyes looking at her like that were just so... sexy? 'No, no, no, no' she mentally shook herself, 'I'm the Dragonborn. I have to save the world. I'm probably going to die saving the world. I don't have time to be getting mixed up in... whatever this is... Vilkas is useful in a fight, he can use a bow, and a sword, and he's good with both. That's why I want to bring him with me... it's got nothing to with his toned sexy muscles or... stop it, stop it, stop it!' Krinna smacked her self in the forehead.

It baffled her how the brothers could look so similar and be so different. Farkas was kind and friendly, and a good trainer. She could talk to him, but he always seemed to be listening just because she was his friend and she was speaking, not because he was interested in what she was saying. He was a good friend, and Krinna appreciated that. Vilkas on the other hand, she'd seen a different side of on their most recent trip. He'd asked about curing her own beast blood, and listened with what appeared to be genuine interest in her response. Then he'd been interested to hear about the dragons and how she'd learned she was Dragonborn. He even brought up some points from legends he'd recently read about. It was really nice to finally talk to someone about being Dragonborn without feeling like she had to prove herself. He made her feel comfortable and nervous all at the same time, which was surprisingly nice. She sighed. She really didn't have time for this. She had hoped her attraction to him was just her beast blood making her want to mate, but now that it was gone he was still just as sexy... she groaned.

Then, with a few deep breaths she composed herself and headed off to Belethor's to sell some junk and buy some potions.

***

The trip to Riverwood had been surprising for Vilkas for a number of reasons. On the road they'd had more time to talk. Krinna explained what the Graybeards had told her, and more about what she'd learned from them. Vilkas also had a little time to reflect on the progress she'd made. She'd come so far from the whelp she'd started as. She still fought with two swords, though she'd swapped her iron ones out for skyforge steel. He liked that she still wore her wolf armor, it suited her figure but kept her protected. She still didn't block well, but she was quicker than most in her heavy armor, so that was ok. Farkas had trained her well.

Without his beast blood he was also getting more comfortable interacting with her. She was still beautiful, he still wanted her... by Ysmir, he wanted her... but the half-crazed uncontrollable lust was gone. She wasn't just a good fighter who was nice to look at, she was easy to talk to and interesting as well.

When they got to the Sleeping Giant Inn Vilkas let her do all the talking while he watched for any sign of trouble.

He'd never expected the inn keeper to be a member of the Blades in hiding. Krinna had been grumpy with her and requested to split up and meet in Kynesgrove.

"Another test," she'd grumbled as soon as Delphine was out of earshot.

"Maybe so," Vilkas said, placing his gauntleted hand on her armored shoulder. "But think of the glorious stories we'll tell when we get home!" Vilkas added excitedly.

"You want to come then?" Krinna asked looking up at him uncertainly.

"Aye," he said with a grin. The beast blood wasn't the only part of him that loved a good battle, he was excited to see and hopefully defeat an actual dragon. "I believe you, but I've still never seen one of these beasts myself. If you'll have me along, Harbinger, I'd love the opportunity of such a glorious battle."

"Let's go kill a dragon then," she smiled back at him.

They'd walked only a few paces out of town when Krinna spoke again.

"So, what's your take on her?" She asked.

"Hmm?"

"Delphine, what do you think of her?" Krinna clarified.Vilkas had definitely not been thinking of Delphine. He thought a moment before answering.

"I don't think she means you any harm," he said slowly, "she's paranoid, but she seems to have reasons to be, or at least she thinks she does."

Krinna nodded. "I was thinking about the same. She seems honest, just guarded." Vilkas nodded and Krinna continued. "I remember her from when I was a kid, she's been playing the 'innocent innkeeper' for a long time."

Another thought occurred to Vilkas, "how is it that no one in Riverwood recognizes you from before?" He asked. The question sounded more suspicious than he'd intended, but Krinna didn't seem to mind.

"I occasionally get odd looks," she shrugged. "Lucan and Camilla were particularly trusting the first time I walked into their shop. But Ma and Pa told the neighbors and family that I died of rock joint after some skeevers got into our basement. That was their cover for smuggling me to Hammerfell. No one expects the ten year old girl who died fifteen years ago to waltz back into town as the Dragonborn."

Vilkas just nodded it made sense... and now he knew his Harbinger was only about three years younger than he was.

"It's been nice to see everyone actually, well, most of them at least," she added, "even if they don't know who I am, I remember them. Sven's still an arrogant ass, and well, Ralof's gone, but Lucan's still as kind as he always was..."

Vilkas listened silently as they walked and she talked about the people of Riverwood she remembered. He tried not to feel jealous when she spoke kindly of Lucan.When she was finished recalling all she cared to, she'd asked about Vilkas. He was a little surprised she cared to know, but he gladly told her all about how he and Farkas had come to Jorrvaskr as small children and been there ever since.

They arrived in Kynesgrove as night was falling and a snowstorm was blowing in. A panicked woman ran down the road, telling them there was a dragon attacking up by the old dragon mound. Krinna swore and drew her swords, and left at a run toward the old dragon mound. Damn that woman was fast. Vilkas pulled his bow from his back, nocked an arrow, and tried to keep up. When he reached the top of the hill he saw Krinna and Delphine, frozen, watching as the huge black dragon raised the bones of another dragon from the dirt. As he spoke flesh and scales covered the bones and the newly living dragon took to the skies. The black dragon then spoke to Krinna, taunting her. Vilkas took aim with his bow, waiting for his Harbinger's command. He wanted to take that dragon out of the sky... but the black dragon flew off and the other dragon swooped in. Vilkas let his arrow fly at the smaller dragon as it roared fire at his Harbinger. Krinna shouted a wave of force back at it as Vilkas nocked another arrow and fired, Delphine was launching arrows too. Krinna dodged and shouted at it again. After a few more arrows and another shout the dragon hit the ground, snarling, snapping, and spewing fire everywhere. Krinna dodged and jumped on its face, slashing with both swords.

"I'll carve you into pieces!" Vilkas yelled as he slung his bow back over his shoulder and charged in with his great sword. The adrenaline carrying him quickly into the fray.

When the dragon lay dead he sheathed his sword and watched as Krinna got to her feet and turned to look at the dragon. The flesh and scales that had so recently materialized began to disintegrate. Vilkas watched in awe as his Harbinger absorbed the dragon's power.

"I owe you some answers, don't I?" Delphine said as she approached. "Go ahead. Whatever you want to know. Nothing held back."

Vilkas had been surprised Krinna had so few questions. She already knew about the Blades and the Thalmor, which had surprised Delphine.After agreeing to meet Delphine back in Riverwood they set off back toward Whiterun. Vilkas was noticing his Harbinger didn't care for stopping at inns, fortunately he didn't mind camping on the road either, and they were both Nords, so the cold didn't bother them too much.

"So," Vilkas asked as they left Kynesgrove behind, "the big black dragon, that was Alduin, wasn't it?"

"Yep," Krinna sighed. "Same one that sacked Helgen."

"So what's our plan, Harbinger?"

"I'm not sure yet..."

Vilkas nodded and they continued on in silence. Krinna appeared deep in thought. Vilkas heard wolves howling and drew his sword; Krinna looked up with a start. They both saw three large black wolves gathering for the attack a few yards ahead, and Vilkas was sure there were more planning to flank them. He saw Krinna draw her swords, staring at the three in front so he turned to watch for the others... he saw at least two more preparing to charge from behind them.

"Vilkas," his Harbinger whispered suddenly, "I want to try something, I may need you to cover me if it doesn't work."

"Aye," he told her. The front wolf charged and the two with it split to come from either side.

"Yol!" Krinna shouted and a gout of fire shot from her mouth with a thunderous crack. The lead wolf was launched backwards, on fire, and quickly dead. Vilkas didn't have time to marvel at her though because he quickly turned to dispatch the two that had been charging in from their flank. He heard her dispatch the other two with her swords, and the combat was over almost as soon as it had started.

"That was..." Vilkas turned back to look at Krinna in awe, "impressive." She was grinning excitedly.

"I get it now, every dragon I kill I can power a new shout if I know the words..."

"So we need to kill more dragons," Vilkas reasoned approvingly.

"And I need to learn more words," Krinna nodded.

They made camp for the night and continued on the next morning. Krinna's good mood continued the whole evening and most of the morning. They walked in comfortable silence most of the way.

His Harbinger spoke again several miles later when they came to a fork in the road. The excitement had left her voice.

"I think I need to take this horn back to High Hrothgar and see what else the Graybeards have for me... and that's not exactly the kind of trip I need a shield-brother for... we should probably part ways here."

Vilkas had been prepared for a lot of things, a dismissal wasn't one of them... he wanted to protest, to tell her he didn't mind sitting around watching the Graybeards teach her, but it did sound boring. And it helped that she sounded unhappy about dismissing him.

"I'm heading home if you need me," he said trying not to sound dejected.

"Thanks," she smiled at him, "I'll be back soon."

By the time he got back to Jorrvaskr he ached all over. He definitely had a little less stamina without the beast blood. It was mid-afternoon, so it seemed silly to go straight to bed. He sulked inside and dropped into a chair at the table. Tilma brought a fresh mug of ale and he accepted it gratefully.

"Oh, hey there!" Ria said approaching him excitedly, "I killed a bear yesterday, did you kill anything?"

Vilkas chuckled softly, "a dragon."


	12. Worry

Krinna didn't come back for nearly a week, and she'd clunked in the door in the middle of the night just like she had before. Even without his beast blood, Vilkas heard her come in. He crept out of bed and headed quietly back upstairs.

"Harbinger," he greeted. She looked at him with a tired smile which he took as an invitation so he sat in the chair next to her.

"I learned another word to a shout, and then I stopped by Riverwood." She explained, "Delphine wants me to sneak into the Thalmor embassy."

"What?" Vilkas didn't like the sound of that, that sounded dangerous, reckless... and his Harbinger wasn't exactly good at sneaking anywhere. "Why would you do that?"

"Delphine thinks it's our best lead to find information on the dragons," Krinna shrugged.

"That's still crazy," Vilkas shook his head, "how are you going to do that?"

"Delphine has a plan," Krinna sighed. "I'm going to pose as a party guest."

"I don't like it," Vilkas grumbled.

"Me neither," she replied. "But I'm glad you're up, there was something else, I need to trade somethings with you."

"What do you need to take?" Vilkas asked gesturing around, "I can go get my bag and travel gear if-"

"No, nothing," she interrupted. "Sorry, trade wasn't exactly the right word. I-" she paused and looked around, "come with me." She got to her feet, grabbed her gear, and headed to the living quarters. Vilkas followed, completely unsure of what to expect. As she led him down the hall to the Harbinger's room his mind began to roam to some possibilities he thought would only ever happen in his dreams. He was suddenly extremely aware that he was not wearing his armor and he was going to need to get himself together if he didn't want his Harbinger to see exactly where his mind was going. They entered the room and Vilkas stood uncertainly in the door watching her. Krinna set her gear down and took off her boots, and then she climbed onto the corner of the bed so she could reach the large chest on top of the wardrobe.She hefted out a large item and climbed down.

"Here," she said turning back to face him. Vilkas stared at her in shock as she thrust the handle of Wuuthrad into his hands.

"Harbinger, I can't-"

"Yes you can," she cut him off. "You know you're better with two-handed weapons than I am."

"But this is the axe of Ysgramor..." Vilkas said still looking at it in awe. "I... I'm not worthy to wield it..."

"Of course you are," Krinna said gently, "you know how much Farkas likes to remind everyone that Skjor said he has the strength of Ysgramor, and you have his smarts... and... I mostly agree with him."

"Mostly?" Vilkas chuckled in surprise.

"Yeah, I wouldn't count you out of the strength category either," she shrugged with a smile. Vilkas didn't know what to say. He was amazed that his Harbinger thought so highly of him.

"Also," she continued, "someone has to lead the Companions if I don't come back, and I want that to be you."

Vilkas's eyes snapped back to her as he registered her words. "But you..." he began to protest but she silenced him with a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her as she smiled back at him.

"I have every intention of coming back," she said calmly, "I still have to save the world."

"You don't have to do it alone though."

She smiled sadly at him. "Thank you Vilkas," she said with a sigh, "I'll keep you posted, and I'll take a shield-sibling as often as possible, but I can't on this mission, I'll be lucky if I can take my weapons and armor in with me."

So she was going into heavily guarded enemy territory, alone, and unarmed... Vilkas liked this plan less and less, and it must have shown on his face because Krinna put her hand back on his shoulder. "Don't worry," she said, "I'm better at playing a part than I am at sneaking."

"I certainly hope so..." Vilkas grumbled.

***

Vilkas had been a worried wreck for the weeks after that. His Harbinger had returned from the Thalmor embassy, and apparently even got the information she was looking for. Unfortunately that information led her to the Riften Ratway, the home of the Thieves Guild, and several other lowlifes. Vilkas had still wanted Krinna to take a shield-sibling, but she hadn't wanted to have the Companions associated with any shady dealings in the Ratway. She even switched to plain steel armor to reduce the risk of association, but she had at least taken her housecarl with her.

***

The weeks dragged on and Farkas envied Vilkas a little less. He returned from his first adventure with the Harbinger looking stiff and exhausted with tales of killing a dragon. When Krinna came back several days later, she'd given Wuuthrad to Vilkas, and told him she wanted him to be the next Harbinger if she didn't come back. Then the Harbinger had taken off without him. Farkas didn't need his beast blood to be able to tell his brother was a worried wreck, Farkas was worried too. Vilkas was the only one who knew where she'd gone, but the rest of them knew it was dangerous enough that she'd bothered appointing the next Harbinger just in case.


	13. Krinna’s Housecarl

Krinna and Lydia made it to Riften without trouble. There had been a couple of wolves on the road, but Lydia was almost as good with a bow as Vilkas was, so very little had actually worried them.

They did have time to talk, Lydia told her how she'd grown up on a farm and joined the Whiterun guards. She was pretty familiar with the Companions. When they made camp for the night Lydia told her the story of a time she was off duty and met Farkas at the Bannered Mare. She'd gotten drunk and challenged him to an arm-wrestling match. She'd lost, but Farkas had been friendly to her ever since. She liked to stand at the guard post at Dragonsreach where she could look down and watch the Companions training, somehow Farkas always knew it was her and would smile up at her and wave. Krinna suspected she knew how, but didn't feel it was her place to explain, so she teased her instead.

"So he got you with those big muscles and ice-blue eyes, did he?"

"Sexy muscles, ice-blue eyes, and a kind sweet smile," Lydia laughed, blushing a little, but then she narrowed her eyes at Krinna in goodnatured suspicion. "Don't tell me he 'got' you too..."

"No, no," Krinna laughed holding her hands up honestly. "Farkas is good looking, and a sweet friend, but no."

Lydia raised an eyebrow at her. "So it's his brother?" She asked teasingly. That made Krinna blush, and it was Lydia's turn to laugh.

"I actually have no idea how to feel about Vilkas right now," Krinna sighed. She told Lydia about her last several interactions with Vilkas; how he'd offered to help her more than once, how he'd listened to her, how he'd protested when she told him Delphine's plan, how he'd stared at her when she leaned in too close...

"Ooh," Lydia nodded, "yeah, he likes you."

"You think so?" Krinna asked uncertainly.

"Oh yeah. He's probably just waiting for you to make the first move. You being the Harbinger and all could put him in an awkward position otherwise," Lydia reasoned.

"That makes sense," Krinna sighed. "I think I like him, I just don't know what to do about it. I'm afraid I don't have time for a relationship and I'd end up hurting him." It was the best way Krinna could think to explain her hesitation without going into the details of her mother's prophesy...

"The man did offer to go traipsing all across Skyrim with you," Lydia shrugged, "maybe just let him and see what happens?"

"Maybe..." Krinna said thoughtfully, then, wanting to change the subject she added, "and, as my housecarl, you have permission to hang around Jorrvaskr... maybe you can get Farkas's attention..." she winked.

That made Lydia laugh.

Krinna felt like a teenager again, talking to a girl friend about men. She and Lydia became fast friends over the course of the trip.

Once in Riften Krinna knew she was looking for the Ratway, Delphine had suggested asking Brynjolf for help, but he wasn't willing to help unless she helped him with a thieving job. In the end, Krinna and Lydia had found the underground tunnels of the Ratway on their own, and Krinna beat up a thug to get information on Esbern.

They found Esbern only shortly before the Thalmor did, and it was quite the fight to get out of the Ratway, but they did finally make it.

Then it was back to Riverwood, and then it was off across Skyrim to find the old temple/hideout of the Blades. The dragon wall in the old temple then sent her back to High Hrothgar to ask about the ancient shout. She'd promised Lydia she could go back to Whiterun for a nice break after they talked to the Graybeards.

In all, Lydia was a good traveling companion and a good friend, but Krinna was realizing, she actually missed Vilkas.

***

One afternoon, at least three weeks since Farkas had last seen her, Krinna returned... with her housecarl...

Farkas had just sat down at the table inside after finishing his usual training when the door opened and Krinna walked in, dropping her travel pack with a loud thunk. Farkas turned instinctively, a little startled by the noise. He hadn't even realized the Harbinger had a housecarl... he did a double take as his gaze fell on the woman behind Krinna...

"Welcome to Jorrvaskr," Krinna told the woman with a proud smile as she took her helmet off. Farkas's heart began to pound as the other woman removed her helmet as well... it was her... after nearly six months, he had a chance to see her again... and he froze up.

Farkas just listened and watched from the corner as Krinna introduced her to Aela. Farkas couldn't believe the coincidence... his brother was in love with the Dragonborn, and he was in love with her housecarl... Wait, in love? Did he know her well enough to know he was in love with her? Hopelessly stuck on might be more accurate, but Farkas didn't care. She was there. He needed to do something... stop staring like an idiot at least... but all he did was watch them curiously as Krinna looked around the hall. She began pointing people out and quietly explaining to Lydia who they were...

"Torvar, good guy, a bit of a drunk, but he can swing a hammer with the best of them... Athis, a little cocky, but he's kind, and great with a short sword."

Then Krinna spotted him and a smirk crossed her face, "oh, and you already know the best heavy armor trainer and one of the strongest warriors in Skyrim..."

Farkas could have hugged Krinna for that introduction. Lydia looked over to him with an impressed looking smile as Krinna led her over to the table he was seated at. Farkas's heart raced, but he did notice Krinna scan the room again before they sat down. He wondered for a moment if she was looking for Vilkas, but then Lydia sat down across from him and he had no more attention for his brother... hardly any attention for the Harbinger either...

"So you ended up assigned to the Dragonborn then," Farkas commented with a smile.

"I did," Lydia nodded. "I have the honor of serving as housecarl to the Thane of Whiterun, the Dragonborn, and the Harbinger of the Companions," she added proudly. Then with a laugh she added, "it's much more interesting than guard duty."

"Bet you've got all kinds of new stories to tell," he said with a grin.

"Oh do we..." Krinna commented as she reached for a mug. Then to Lydia she added, "tell him about the first dragon you killed."

Lydia smiled and Farkas listened in awe as she described their fight with the huge beast of legend. Krinna input a few details occasionally, but mostly Lydia told the story. Farkas was impressed. He didn't think Lydia was the type to exaggerate, and he knew Krinna was definitely the type to down-play instead of exaggerate, but their tale was still unbelievable. There had been no less than three dragons that had attacked them on their way to Riften, and just the two of them had taken all of them down.

Farkas managed to spare a glance to the door when he heard it open and Vilkas entered. Someone who didn't know his brother so well would have probably thought Vilkas was casually coming in from training and happy to sit down with a bite to eat, but Farkas didn't miss the excitement and relief Vilkas was trying to hide as his eyes fell on Krinna. Vilkas walked to the table and casually took the seat beside Farkas, across from Krinna's, and gave her a nod and subtle smile in greeting. Krinna smiled back at him, and Farkas noticed she began inserting more of her own narratives in the stories she and Lydia told after that. He also noticed how the two women never stumbled over each other as they spoke, even though they frequently interrupted each other. They both interjected their comments and perspectives seamlessly. Farkas could tell their relationship was more of a friendship than the master-servant relationship that was more typical of a housecarl and Thane. Knowing what he knew about both of them, that didn't surprise Farkas at all. Krinna was too kind to consider someone beneath her, and Lydia was too stubborn to be servile.

Farkas and Vilkas both sat and listened to the Dragonborn and her housecarl tell their stories as they all ate dinner. Several of the whelps crowded around to listen as well.

Farkas was even more impressed as they told their story of rescuing an old member of the Blades from Thalmor, and then of how they'd fended off dozens of foresworn that attacked them as they tried to pass through to find an old temple. It was amazing, in the time they'd been gone they'd traveled clear across Skyrim, from one end to the other.

As the hours passed listening to their stories, Farkas decided there was no reason he shouldn't get to know Lydia better. Now that he was a proper Nord again, she just might want him too.


	14. New Plans

When dinner was finished and most people began making their way to sleeping quarters. Krinna and her housecarl were talking quietly. Vilkas got to his feet as well and walked over to them. He got into earshot in time to hear the housecarl tell Krinna she'd be at Dragonsreach before she turned to leave.

"It sounds like it's been dangerous out there," he said casually putting a hand on his Harbinger's shoulder once her housecarl had left. She looked up at him with a tired smile. "Please, Harbinger," he said quietly, "take a shield-sibling with you."

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that," she replied.

"Oh?" Vilkas pulled out the chair beside her and sat down.

"For starters, Lydia is actually really reliable," she began, "she could have easily been a Companion too."

That actually made Vilkas feel a little better. "Apologies, Harbinger," he said with a gentle smile, "I wasn't trying to discredit your housecarl." Now he wondered if there was any chance Lydia was the housecarl Farkas had been referring to... he looked around for his brother but didn't see him... Farkas had been riveted to their entire story...

"It's ok," Krinna said with a shrug. "I appreciate your concern. But what I actually wanted to talk to you about," she paused to take a breath and Vilkas's attention was back on her. "I talked to the leader of the Graybeards," Krinna continued, "I need to find an Elder Scroll so I can go back in time to learn how Alduin was defeated before so I can go defeat him now..." she paused for a moment while Vilkas processed what she was saying. He hadn't even realized Elder Scrolls actually existed outside of old legends, but then a year ago he hadn't thought dragons did either.

"So where do we find an Elder Scroll?" He asked in resignation. He was hoping she was telling him all this because she wanted him to go with her...

"No idea, but Delphine thinks the mages in Winterhold might be able to tell me where to start."

"I don't trust the mages," Vilkas said darkly.

"I don't either."

"But, I can watch your back if that's where you need to go," he added. Her relieved smile told him his hope had been correct.

***

Farkas meanwhile was done freezing up, and decided he was going to talk to Lydia...

"It's good to see you again," he commented with a smile as he followed her out the doors of Jorrvaskr.

Lydia spun around with a start, her hand going reflexively to her sword hilt. "Farkas," she breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing as soon as she saw it was him.

"Didn't mean to scare you," Farkas apologized sheepishly. His face turned a shade darker and he began to think trying to talk to her on her way back to Dragonsreach might have been a bad idea.

"I just didn't hear you coming," Lydia shook her head.

"Guess I move a little quieter than Krinna," Farkas chuckled. Lydia let out a laugh.

"Sometimes she makes me look stealthy," she admitted. Farkas chuckled more, his confidence returning as they began to walk down the steps.

"So... What does a housecarl do when she's off duty?" He asked hopefully. Lydia cocked an eyebrow at him, then she sighed.

"Sit and wait for my Thane to need something," she shrugged, "train for the next adventure, guard her possessions... there really is no 'off duty' anymore."

"So why are you heading to Dragonsreach?" Farkas asked with a smirk.

"That's... where I told her I'd be..." Lydia said slowly raising her eyebrows at him in confusion.

"Aren't all of her possessions at Jorrvaskr?"

"I... hadn't thought about that..." a small smile slowly formed on Lydia's face. "She did give me permission to spend my days there, maybe use the training yard if no one minds..." She was smirking now and it made Farkas's heart race even more.

"You're the Harbinger's housecarl. No one will mind," Farkas assured her. "You can even train with me if you want," he offered with a smile.

"Don't you have other Companions to train?" She raised her eyebrow at him again, but this time with a slight hint of a smirk on her lips.

"I can always use extra training," Farkas shrugged, still smiling.

"Well alright then," Lydia nodded, the hint of a smirk slowly shifting back into a real smile. "I'll see you at Jorrvaskr in the morning then."

Farkas looked up and realized they'd reached the doors to Dragonsreach much quicker than he'd wanted to.

"Mmhmm," Farkas answered. "Goodnight then," he said a little awkwardly.

"Goodnight Farkas," Lydia smiled before she opened the large palace doors and disappeared inside.

Farkas walked back to Jorrvaskr, replaying their conversation in his mind... part of him still couldn't believe what had just happened. After months of thinking he'd never see her again, not only had she suddenly walked into Jorrvaskr, she had just agreed to train with him in the morning... this whole time she'd just been stuck up at Dragonsreach training and waiting for Krinna, not being shipped off to serve some random noble somewhere else in the hold... and now she'd need to stay close to Jorrvaskr to fulfill her duties as housecarl of the Harbinger.

Farkas tried to think of the way she'd smiled at him... was it possible she was as interested as he was? He began to think back to her reaction to seeing him when she and Krinna had arrived that afternoon... she had looked impressed with Jorrvaskr, but she had smiled even more upon seeing him... and did she blush just a little, or was his imagination messing with the memory now?

Another thought suddenly occurred to Farkas; Krinna's introduction... Krinna knew that Lydia already knew him... which meant Lydia must have told her. Then Farkas remembered the nearly mischievous smirk that had crossed Krinna's face when she saw him... what could Lydia have told her?

Farkas was so lost in thought he didn't even notice he'd walked right past Jorrvaskr. He suddenly stopped when he found himself at the stairs heading for the market stalls. Farkas shook his head and turned back toward home. He needed to get to bed if he was going to be up in time to meet Lydia.

The next morning Farkas was surprised to find Vilkas up early as well. He told Farkas that Krinna had asked him to accompany her to Winterhold.

"What's she need to go to Winterhold for?" Farkas asked in bewilderment.

"She thinks the mages might have information about a legendary item that she needs to defeat the dragons," Vilkas explained. Farkas noticed he looked a little tense when he mentioned the mages.

"And she expects they're just going to give her information without any trouble?" Farkas asked. He didn't know much about the college mages, but all the mages he'd been sent to deal with or happened across on the road were always bad news.

"No, that's part of why I'm going with her," Vilkas answered grimly.

"The other is to enjoy your company?" Farkas teased.

"That's part of why I agreed," Vilkas admitted with an embarrassed smirk. "The other part is that hopefully they'll let us explore their library."

"Ah, you and your books," Farkas chuckled.

"Aye," Vilkas shrugged still smirking. Farkas laughed. His brother was so smitten...

Lydia arrived in time to tell Krinna she'd be at Jorrvaskr to train while she was gone and then wish the pair luck as Krinna and Vilkas headed out of town. Farkas noticed with curiosity that Krinna whispered something to Lydia right before they parted... whatever it was had made Lydia laugh and blush...

Then Lydia made her way up the steps to find Farkas waiting for her.

Feeling brave he cocked an eyebrow at her and asked, "what was that about?" He nodded his head toward Krinna and Vilkas who were heading toward the city gates.

"Oh, uh..." Lydia hesitated for a moment before meeting his eye. "She told me to work on my heavy armor skill," she explained with a now confident smirk.

Farkas could have hugged Krinna...


	15. Training and Traveling

"You're going easy on me," Lydia accused when she won their second sparring match.

"Always go easy on a new trainee," Farkas shrugged, "till I figure out what they're capable of..."

"Alright," Lydia nodded understandingly. Then she gave him a smirk and asked; "so how many more times do I have to beat you before you show me what you're made of?"

That got Farkas's heart pounding more than the training had, and he quickly found himself relieved that he was wearing his armor...

"If you think you're ready..." Farkas grinned at her as he took his fighting stance again. Lydia just grinned back at him and took her fighting stance as well.

To Farkas's surprise, when he stopped holding back, so did Lydia. The match lasted at least twice as long as he expected it to. None of his usual moves worked on her, it was like she knew what he was going to do. It baffled him, he didn't think he was telegraphing his moves that much. And then he was on the defensive... she had almost backed him into the wall... not many people could do that. Finally he managed to surprise her and disarm her after parrying one of her attacks. Farkas grabbed her wrist and spun her around so he was behind her. Then, quickly twisting her arm behind her back with one hand, he pulled her off balance so she fell back against his chest plate. He held his sword just below her throat, forcing her not to struggle.

"I win," he smirked over her shoulder at her.

"I yield," she replied in an even tone. Her face was flushed and she was breathing heavily, but she smiled over her shoulder at him. Farkas realized this was the closest he'd ever been to her. He could still smell her distinctive lavender scent when she was this close. He slowly lowered his sword and let go of her arm. Lydia blushed as she stepped away from him and turned to face him.

"I uh... didn't see that one coming," she admitted.

Farkas chuckled as he tried to catch his breath. "I didn't see most of that coming," he replied, she smiled at him and the rest of what he was about to say got lost in his head. "You, uh... that was... wow..." he stuttered out instead. Lydia giggled a little.

"Well, I did have a pretty good idea of what to expect," she said, blushing a little more.

Farkas raised an eyebrow at her in confusion. "And how's that?" He asked.

"Guard duty," she said with an innocent smile as she nodded her head toward Dragonsreach.

"Oh," Farkas said looking up to the guard post over the skyforge. He didn't know what else to say, he'd known she was watching him, he'd actively tried to show off after all, but he never realized she was watching him that closely. He was impressed.

"How about a drink then a rematch," Lydia suggested. She had a confident smile, but her voice sounded a little nervous.

"Alright then," Farkas grinned.

As the days passed Farkas discovered that Lydia knew her way around almost every weapon. Moving quickly and quietly in heavy armor was a slightly different story. Farkas realized with disappointment that Krinna's instruction to work on her heavy armor skill might have had nothing to do with him... possibly... He still didn't mind training her, even if it meant he hardly got a break. With Vilkas and Krinna both gone, business got a little hectic at Jorrvaskr. Farkas managed to get a morning training session with Lydia almost every day before he trained with Athis and Torvar, but he didn't have nearly as much time as he wanted to spend with her.

***

The trip started off pretty boring by Vilkas's standards. He felt like a simple bodyguard, but he found he didn't mind if he was guarding his Harbinger. Then, after the first day on the road, Krinna seemed to get bored too because along with her aversion to inns, she seemed to have suddenly developed an aversion to roads. She consulted her map, looked at the sky, and then took off into the wilderness in as close to a straight line as the terrain would allow. Vilkas had been about to complain, but she was suddenly out of earshot, jumping like a mountain goat, climbing the ridge before them. Vilkas swore and scrambled after her.

They reached Winterhold at least a day sooner than they would have by road.

To his relief they had been allowed to enter the college just because Krinna was the Dragonborn, and she'd been able to go straight to the arcaniun to ask about the Elder Scroll. Vilkas had worried the orc in the arcanium would be trouble, but he had suddenly become cooperative when he'd heard she was the Dragonborn.

The crazy old man in the ice cave north of the college made Vilkas uncomfortable, but he was more uncomfortable with the location they were being sent to after that. Vilkas hated Dwemer ruins. Krinna seemed to notice his discomfort.

"You ok?" She asked.

"Yeah," he nodded, "I just get nervous around dwarven stonework. Legends say these cities are haunted."

"Yeah, I'm not a fan either," Krinna replied looking at the entrance to the ruins. "You don't have to come if you don't want to," she offered.

"I wouldn't dream of letting you go in there alone, Harbinger," Vilkas replied resolutely.

They camped outside the ruins so they could enter first thing in the morning. The walk through the ruins had taken several hours, and there were several ancient dwemer constructs that were still roaming around. Vilkas preferred draugr. The ruins opened into the underground expanse of Black Reach. It had been an impressive but unsettling sight. It had only been a few hours since they left the Dwemer ruins, but felt like they'd been down there for days. Vilkas quickly discovered he hated the Falmer worse than the Dwemer spiders. He was actually happy when they reached another Dwemer chamber. He stood guard while Krinna fiddled with the puzzle the crazy old man had given her. It took several minutes, and Krinna cursed several times, but finally the contraption began to move and Krinna was able to retrieve the Elder Scroll from within. And even better, was afterwards, they'd found a shortcut back to the surface. Vilkas was so happy to see the light of the setting sun he almost grabbed his Harbinger to hug and kiss her. He stopped himself with a hand on her shoulder.

"What's next Harbinger?"

"Next we go home," she said with a tired smile, "and as soon as I'm ready, I take the Elder Scroll to the Throat of the World, and face Alduin."


	16. Overdoing It?

Vilkas and Krinna returned several days later with stories of delving into Blackreach. Farkas hadn't previously realized Blackreach actually existed. Torvar had accused them of drinking too much, to which Krinna responded that she hadn't drank enough and grabbed a mug of mead. Farkas watched as Vilkas followed suit and he could tell that wherever they'd been, it had been a more stressful trip than they were letting on.

Over the next few days Krinna and Vilkas both stuck around Jorrvaskr. Vilkas went back to his usual duties, but Krinna went back to training like she had as a new blood. She asked him to train her more with her armor, and she even asked Athis to help her practice with her swords. Farkas noticed Vilkas watching her longingly as she trained with Athis. Farkas knew Vilkas had pretty much given up hoping that she'd want help with two-handed weapons after she'd given him Wuuthrad. Farkas didn't want to tell him, but he was pretty sure Krinna's fighting style wouldn't do well switching to a two-handed weapon.

***

One evening as Vilkas was finishing his dinner and drink, Krinna approached him and sat in the chair beside him.

"Hmm?" He looked up at her expectantly.

"I've been having letter correspondence with my brother," she began hesitantly. "Where do you stand on the war?" She asked quietly. That had not been the question Vilkas was expecting. He blinked at her in surprise for a moment. He thought the war was stupid, and the Companions needed to stay out of it. But he realized that might not be possible for the Dragonborn.

"There are always good reasons to fight," he said. "I just wish this war had them. Who cares who worships what dead god? Give me something to make me draw my sword."

Krinna nodded. "I know the Companions don't get involved in politics, but I can't deal with the pieces of this dragon puzzle with a war going on. Alduin is getting stronger the longer Skyrim stays in chaos. And from what Hadvar tells me, the dragons have leveled the playing field. It won't end unless something major changes. I'm afraid I need to end it."

"Well, that's a reason to fight," Vilkas nodded. "Which side are we taking?"

"I'll join my brother in the Imperial Legion," she said resolutely.

Vilkas approved of her decision, but after what she'd told him of her ordeal at Helgen, and her more recent run-in with the Thalmor it surprised him. His surprise must have shown on his face because Krinna went on to explain;

"I revere Talos and hate the Thalmor, but I agree with my parents and brother. The way to rid the Thalmor from Skyrim is a coordinated assault from a strong unified Skyrim. This war has weakened us, giving the Thalmor a stronger hold. The Stormcloaks are the traitors."

"I can get behind that," Vilkas nodded seriously, "but not all of the Companions will."

"I still want the Companions as a whole to stay neutral," Krinna replied, "I just hoped you might..."

"I'd be happy to help you, Harbinger."

***

After about a week of training with Lydia, Krinna, and Torvar and Athis, Farkas was starting to think he was finally overdoing it. He hadn't been intentionally keeping his training with Lydia a secret, but she tended to get up as early as he did, so there was usually no one else around to see them training, so he wasn't sure if anyone actually knew he was doing three trainings in a day instead of two. But even as tired and sore as he was starting to get, the mornings with Lydia were his favorite part of the day.

Farkas felt a little guilty for being glad when Krinna and Vilkas left for another mission after only being back for a week and a half. He was a little worried though, they hadn't said anything to anyone about where they were going this time. Lydia didn't even know where they'd gone.

"I know she's been writing letters to her brother," Lydia said thoughtfully as they trained the morning after they'd left.

"I didn't know she had a brother," Farkas grunted as he parried one of Lydia's attacks.

"He's a legionnaire," Lydia replied as she regained her balance and brought her shield up to block his counter attack.

"You think that has anything to do with where they went?" Farkas asked after his sword skidded off her shield.

"I'm not sure," Lydia swiped again with her sword and Farkas dodged. "I was thinking either it's more preparations for her fight with Alduin, or its something to do with her brother in the war," Lydia explained as they circled, each looking for an opening.

"Don't see why they wouldn't have told us if it was more 'Dragonborn stuff," Farkas pointed out. Lydia saw an opening and lunged, but Farkas parried and countered with a swing of his own sword. Lydia easily got her shield up in time to fully block him, but she didn't get the angle right to deflect the force and the impact rattled her arm to the bone.

"I yield!" Lydia cringed, and Farkas froze in his tracks. He watched in concern as she put her shield and sword down and began to rub her shield arm. "That's true," Lydia continued as if he hadn't just rattled her bones with the impact of his sword, "and with how she's been doing nothing but training and writing to her brother for at least a week, I wonder if she's actually going to get involved in the war." Lydia went to sit down and get a drink, slowly flexing her shield arm.

"Sorry about that," Farkas said guiltily. He felt so terrible about hitting her that hard he was hardly registering the rest of what she was saying.

"Huh?" Lydia looked up at him, "oh, I'm ok Farkas." She smiled, "This is what I need; if I can take a hit from you, dragons will be no problem... that's my goal at least," she added and grimaced slightly as she continued trying to move her arm around. "I don't know if my Thane is planning to bring me or your brother when she goes to face Alduin, but I thought I should be ready."

"Pretty sure I don't compare to a dragon," Farkas chuckled.

"I mean, I've beaten a dragon," Lydia said with a smirk, "I've yet to beat you in a real match."

Farkas's face reddened a bit at that, "you give me a real run for my money though."

"That's good to hear at least," Lydia laughed.


	17. A Broken Heart

Krinna and Vilkas returned after a few days, then left again, were gone for a week, then came back and left again. They didn't seem like anything was particularly wrong... until the Stormcloaks attacked Whiterun. Krinna and Vilkas returned suspiciously just in time to help defend the city and the Stormcloaks never stood a chance against the Dragonborn.

Farkas couldn't tell who Vignar was more mad at, Jarl Balgruf for siding with the Imperials, or Ulfric Stormcloak for attacking Whiterun. Fortunately Farkas was pretty sure he hadn't figured out that Krinna and Vilkas were involved, and he wasn't about to say anything.

Krinna and Vilkas took off again only a day or two after the city was secured again.

"What do you suppose the odds are they'll run off to Riften?" Lydia asked one morning as they were beginning their training.

"I hope they do," Farkas chuckled, "he's been smitten with her since she came to Jorrvaskr."

"I told her it sounded like he was interested," Lydia laughed.

"She's interested in him then I take it?" Farkas asked with raised eyebrows.

"She said she doesn't know," Lydia sighed, rolling her eyes, "she's worried she doesn't have enough time for relationships because of her destiny with the dragons... or something like that."

"They seem to be spending plenty of time together now," Farkas shrugged.

"That's what I told her to do," Lydia laughed.

Farkas wanted to ask her so many questions, but the possibilities had his heart racing so much the words wouldn't come. He gave an approving chuckle instead as they took their stances.

He wanted to know if she and Krinna had talked about Vilkas, had they also talked about him? What had they said about him? Did Lydia want to run off to Riften?

Farkas was so flustered and lost in thought that Lydia actually won the match without him intentionally letting her.

***

Vilkas was amazed at how quickly his Harbinger had turned the tides of the war. He'd accompanied her on several missions to clear out forts of bandits or Stormcloaks, but then Legate Rikke had started sending her on more covert missions. She had to bring false papers to a Stormcloak commander, then she had to blackmail someone in Riften. Vilkas had been sent back to wait at Jorrvaskr.

When she came back from that last trip to Riften, Vilkas's heart broke. She had walked in with a smile on her face and a gold ring on her finger. She never said anything about it, Vilkas just noticed the ring. She never mentioned it to any of the Companions. Were they all really not important enough to her to have even been informed of her wedding? He hadn't even realized she'd been interested in another man, there were no hints, it was out of the blue... except maybe the shop keeper in Riverwood... she'd called him 'kind'... Vilkas stalked off to his room and locked the door.

***

Farkas had noticed his brother's subtle excitement at the Harbinger's return. He was getting ready to tell Vilkas outright that he needed to just run off to Riften and stop this pining nonsense. But then when Vilkas went inside to greet the Harbinger his mood suddenly and completely deflated. He'd had a short, but seemingly pleasant conversation with her, and then excused himself. Farkas was baffled when Vilkas stalked past him on his way down stairs; the man looked completely heartbroken, and Farkas had no idea why.

Krinna looked confused by his sudden departure, but she obviously hadn't seen the expression he wore as he walked away; Farkas was pretty sure Vilkas had intended her not to see how upset he was.

Vilkas locked himself in his room and told Farkas to leave him alone when he knocked.

Lydia joined them for dinner so Farkas sat with the Harbinger and her housecarl. Krinna quietly filled them in on her latest escapades as they ate. Farkas chuckled smugly upon hearing he and Lydia had been right about Krinna getting involved in the war. He also noticed Krinna frequently glanced up to the doors of the living quarters, Farkas suspected she was hoping to see Vilkas re-emerging, but he never did.

Vilkas must have crept out in the middle of the night and taken off on a hunt, because next morning he was gone. In his room on his desk was the shortest note Farkas had ever seen his brother write; it simply said "gone hunting." If he hadn't found the note in Vilkas's room and recognized his brother's handwriting, Farkas would never have believed his brother had written it. Vilkas always liked to make it obvious that he was an intelligent and well-read man; even his simplest notes always contained some category of headings and sign-offs. Farkas was officially worried.

Aela couldn't make sense of it when Farkas asked her either. She did comment that Vilkas smelled of despair the night before, but Farkas had figured that part out without his beast blood.

That night Farkas was happy to see Lydia was joining Krinna for dinner again, and they both looked happy for him to join them.

"So is my brother off on an errand for you?" Farkas probed the Harbinger as he sat down.

"No," Krinna sighed, "I was hoping you'd know where he went." She sounded just as worried as Farkas felt. Lydia raised an eyebrow at both of them but stayed quiet.

"He didn't say anything," Farkas shrugged, he watched for Krinna's reaction and thought she looked a little guilty. "Any idea why he was so upset?" Farkas asked gently.

Krinna sighed again, looking distressed. "If it wasn't something that happened before I got back, I would assume he's upset with me," she admitted.

"What happened?" Lydia asked in surprise.

"The legate sent me to blackmail someone in Riften for information," Krinna explained. "I know blackmail is not an honorable way to get things done, but it's a war, and this was the option with the least risk to innocent lives... I thought Vilkas understood that, but when I got back and he asked how it went, I told him it went according to plan, even showed him one of the letters, and he just... clammed up, and said he had to go do some reading."

"Yeah, sounds like he's upset with you," Lydia nodded. Krinna sighed again, looking more distressed.

"Hmmm..." Farkas grumbled. It sounded like something that would annoy Vilkas, but Farkas didn't think it accounted for the look of sheer heartbreak Farkas had seen on his brother's face. He decided not to say anything yet and hopefully track down and question his brother.

Krinna, claiming she needed some extra coin, took a simple job from Aela and she and Lydia left the next morning. Farkas suspected she was going to look for Vilkas but kept that thought to himself.

Vilkas came back a few days later and slipped into his room in the middle of the night. The only indication he'd returned being the appearance of several fresh game animals in the kitchen for Tilma to cook. Farkas found his door locked. Farkas respected his brother's space, but no one had seen or spoken to him in several days. He'd had enough. He grabbed a few bottles of mead, picked the lock, and opened the door. He was met with a surprised and angry Vilkas glaring at him from his desk. Farkas regarded his brother with concern for several moments, aside from a terrible mood, he didn't seem any worse for the wear.

"That door was locked for a reason," Vilkas growled.

"Yeah, and I opened it for a reason," Farkas replied, strolling into the room and shutting the door. Vilkas growled at him. Farkas handed him a bottle of mead and sat down in the other chair.

"I don't want to talk about it, brother," Vilkas sighed.

"That's fine," Farkas shrugged. "Had a good hunting trip I noticed."

"Aye," Vilkas shrugged in response, "almost angered a giant retrieving a pheasant I shot, but that was the closest to trouble I had."

"Torvar got too close to a mammoth and riled up the giants chasing a rabbit last week," Farkas laughed. "Athis and I found him nearly a mile away after one of them sent him flying."

Vilkas chuckled at that. They sat in comfortable silence, drinking their mead for several minutes.

"Remember that time when we were whelps," Vilkas began finally putting down his empty bottle.

"Our first hunting trip with Skjor?" Farkas smirked, guessing the memory his brother was thinking of.

"Aye," Vilkas laughed, "when we thought we'd impress him by taking on a mammoth, just the two of us."

"I still think your plan would have worked if it hadn't been for the giants," Farkas grinned.

"Of course it would have," Vilkas said proudly.

The brothers drank and reminisced late into the night. The next morning, Vilkas ventured out of his room long enough to get a meal before retreating back to the books in his room. Farkas still didn't know exactly what had upset his brother, but at least now he was eating and hiding in his room with the door unlocked. The closest Vilkas came to telling Farkas what was wrong was the mention that he wasn't sure he could accompany the Harbinger anymore, but he didn't want to talk about why and Farkas hadn't pressed him.

When Krinna and Lydia came back the next day Krinna waited for him to come up, an when he didn't, she went and found him in his room. Farkas didn't intentionally eavesdrop, but he did hear her apologizing for something...


	18. When the Battle Goes Wrong

When the Harbinger finally tracked him down to ask for his help with another fort Vilkas had thought he was going to tell her no, to take Farkas, but when she approached him and apologized (she'd thought he was mad because blackmailing someone wasn't honorable) he couldn't refuse her.

So there he was, walking out to Fort Greenwall to join a small Imperial regimen and take out some Stormcloaks.

The fight was mostly going well, he'd gotten surrounded once but the Stormcloak armor was no match for Wuuthrad. He was catching his breath when he looked up and saw Krinna, his Harbinger, surrounded by Stormcloak soldiers, they were coming at her from every side, she was bleeding, and she stumbled.

"By Ysmir, you'll pay for that!" He bellowed and charged. It was a mistake. He hadn't recovered enough from his last fight yet and now he was surrounded. He had won Krinna some reprieve, but now they were both surrounded. He was out of breath an losing blood, and then a sword pierced his armor and into his back. 'So this is how I go to Sovengarde,' he thought as his vision went dark, 'fighting to save the woman who'll never know I love her...'

The last thing he heard was his Harbinger screaming his name.

Vilkas sat bolt upright in bed breathing heavily. He'd never had a dream that felt so real before. He was starting to calm down when he heard the door to the Harbinger's room down the hall open and her footsteps coming toward his room. Even without her armor on she didn't know how to move quietly. And then she just opened his door, barged in without knocking and stared at him.

"What?" He asked in alarm, the look of relief on her face was baffling to him.

"Sorry," she replied, the look of relief began to be replaced by a look of embarrassment and... the Harbinger was blushing... actually blushing... his Harbinger, the Dragonborn, was standing in his doorway, without her armor on, blushing at him. At him? No, that wasn't possible, it must have been because of some mistake she'd made. She'd gotten the wrong room? That didn't make sense either.

"Did we oversleep and miss the fight?" Vilkas asked in bewilderment.

"No," she said, "no, it's still early. I... uh... I need to go buy a few things before we leave for Fort Greenwall. Get some more rest, we can leave after lunch." And before Vilkas could ask anymore questions she was gone and his door shut behind her.

"What in Oblivion was that?" Vilkas quietly asked no one in particular. He tried to settle back to sleep, trying not to think about how willingly he would charge to his death for his Harbinger. Details of his dream slowly began to fade, but one thing remained: the desperation he'd felt to save her... he loved her. Wait what? No, she didn't love him, she was probably married to another man, he needed to not think like that... but it was no use, Vilkas realized it was true. He loved a woman who did not love him back. He would die for her... he remembered the sound of her screaming his name in his dream. She had sounded so anguished, so shocked... that wasn't the scream of a woman who didn't love him... he was sure she'd never scream like that outside of his dream. Not that he ever wanted her to, but if he was dying for her it would at least be nice to hear she wasn't happy about losing him...

***

Krinna sat for a few moments in the early morning light outside Jorrvaskr. She couldn't believe it had worked. Vilkas has gone down, he had died, she had lost him, and then she'd panicked. She'd used the Elder Scroll, and it had actually worked. She wasn't even sure how it had worked, or what she had done, but now she was back at that morning, and Vilkas was ok. The whole day was now fading like a bad dream... maybe it really had just been a bad dream... surely Vilkas wouldn't have really rushed in to a mob of soldiers like that...

She opened her bag to look at the Scroll, it was warm to the touch, she was certain it had been no dream. She thought back to what Paarthunax had said about the time wound, and she felt guilty for using the Scroll for such a selfish reason. She got the distinct impression she couldn't do it again... or at least definitely shouldn't...

The sight of Vilkas dying before her eyes played back through her mind... she'd been so helpless... she could slow time with a shout enough to drink a potion, she could have even shouted herself clean out of the fight, but she could do nothing to save Vilkas... nothing but tear a hole in the very fabric of time... and she couldn't do it again... with a sigh, Krinna made up her mind to go buy some things from the court wizard... just to be safe. She was not going to lose someone she cared so much for just because Nords weren't supposed to like magic.

***

When they actually did get moving later that day Vilkas noticed that Krinna seemed her normal self again. They reached the legionaries ready to attack the fort. Vilkas was having a strange sense of dejavu. The battle was going better than it had in his dream, at first. He didn't fall into the same swarm of Stormcloaks, but he did eventually start to tire and then he was surrounded. He was bloodied but each one eventually fell to Wuuthrad. And then it happened, just like it had in his dream, Krinna was surrounded. He charged in to help, but that just meant they were both surrounded. He blocked a sword to his left, but took an axe to his right. He began to bleed out, his vision was going dark, and he heard his Harbinger screaming for him. It was not quite the same anguished scream from his dream, but it was still one that told him she cared. There was a determination mixed with her anguish; she would avenge him... a smile crossed his lips as he prepared for Sovengarde, but then a warm golden light swam across his vision. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder, "Suddenly, I feel much better..." he said in wonder. His vision cleared and the sound of the battle was still raging around him... and he saw Krinna. She had dropped one of her swords to cast a healing spell on him. Now she had her left hand on his shoulder casting while she frantically wielded the other sword with her right. Vilkas jumped to his feet, his grip tightening on Wuuthrad and turning to the Stormcloaks again. "Ysmir... curse you!" He yelled as he carved through the soldiers with his axe.

When the battle finally ended the legion had won the day, but Krinna didn't seem to care. She slumped to her knees in the snow breathing heavily. Vilkas rushed to her only to be met with her tired scowl.

"Damn it Vilkas!" She snapped. "What were you thinking? Why would you charge in like that when you're already hurt?"

"You needed help!" He snapped back.

"Yes, I did, but that's when you use a bow, you don't charge in when you're hurt!"

"You were in trouble!" He yelled in reply. He knew he was being redundant, but he was angry to be yelled at.

"Vilkas I'm the Dragonborn. I have a shout that can slow time enough to chug a potion in the middle of combat. I have a shout that can launch me forward at great speed. I can get myself out of most trouble. What I can't do is get you back!" She yelled. And then in a whisper Vilkas was barely sure he'd heard, she added, "...not more than once at least."

Vilkas stared at her for a moment. "Well I'm sorry I tried to help the almighty Dragonborn!" He yelled and then he stalked off. He couldn't believe she was yelling at him, he had been willing to lay down his life for her. He didn't mean enough to her for her to have bothered mentioning her wedding to him, but she could get angry at him for trying to save her.

'Not more than once at least...' her last sentence played back through his mind... what in Oblivion did that mean? His mind went back to his dream... could that have been... he stared in amazement at his Harbinger as she talked to Hadvar. The rest of the imperials gathered their things and began to fortify the newly claimed fort. Vilkas just watched and thought...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I reloaded my last save and did an entire quest over again because Vilkas died.


	19. Understanding

They didn't speak again until they made camp for the night. It was raining and despite having found a rocky out cropping to shelter under, Vilkas couldn't get the damp firewood to light.

"I can get it," Krinna sighed. She reached her hand to the pile of wood and began casting flames at it. It took a couple of minutes, but the wood soon dried enough to catch.

"I didn't realize you could do so much magic, Harbinger," Vilkas commented, he tried not to sound irritable when he said it, but judging by her frown he had anyway. She sighed grumpily again before responding.

"It's not my preferred method of getting a job done, but it does come in handy from time to time."

"Like when your shield-brother misjudges a fight and tries to save his Harbinger..." Vilkas whispered. He hadn't been sure she'd heard him for a moment, but then she sighed again, less grumpy this time.

"Especially then," she replied in a softer tone. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," she added, "but you scared me."

Her words brought a hopeful flutter back to Vilkas's heart. "I'm sorry I misjudged," he said softly.

She sighed again. "I'm just glad I learned that healing spell."

Vilkas chuckled in spite of himself. "Me too." They were both quiet for several moments before Vilkas spoke again. "Thank you," he said quietly. Krinna just nodded while she fiddled with a stick in the fire. "If you don't mind me asking," he began again very tentatively, "when did you learn that healing spell?"

She looked up at him and seemed to consider very carefully before answering; "I bought it from Farengar this morning."

"This morning, after you barged into my room looking relieved to see me?" Vilkas asked. She didn't answer for at least a minute. She stared into the fire looking deep in thought. Finally, she sighed and spoke; "the Elder Scrolls are very powerful. In the wrong hands they could tear the fabric of time apart... I'm supposed to be responsible with this one, but... I panicked."

"That was no dream," he said. The understanding sinking in.

"No," she said, still staring at the fire. Then she looked back up at him and he saw there were tears in her eyes. "But I can't do that again, it was irresponsible. If you go down again... Vilkas... I can't..."

Her voice trailed off as Vilkas leaned forward and took her hands in his. He'd never wanted so much to hold her in his arms and kiss her. But then his hands brushed over the ring on her finger and he froze; the reminder hit him like ice in his chest. She wasn't his, she would never be his.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, "and thank you Harbinger. I won't be so careless next time." He let go of her hands and imagined she looked disappointed about it. He looked back into the pouring rain and another thought occurred to him. "Who else knows you have that Scroll?" He asked.

"Only you," came her quiet response.

"Best keep it that way," he suggested, "wouldn't want even more trouble coming after you, now would we?" He glanced back at her and she simply nodded in agreement. Vilkas realized she looked exhausted. "Get some rest," he advised. "I'll take the first watch."

Krinna curled up in a bedroll, armor and all with no protest.

Vilkas watched the rain and tried to wrap his mind around this new information... she'd saved him, twice... one of those times she'd actually torn the very fabric of time to do it... how could she have gone off and married someone else? He clearly meant something to her... part of him wanted to just forget the ring, to kiss her anyway... but that would not be the honorable thing to do... and if she actually was married, she would certainly shut him down, and Vilkas didn't think he could handle that. Or worse, if he made his feelings known and she responded by distancing herself from him... no, he couldn't do that.

***

After Fort Greenwall fell it didn't take many more battles before they were ready to march on Windhelm. Then, only a month after the Dragonborn had chosen a side, Ulfric Stormcloak was dead.

Krinna sat with Hadvar outside Windhelm after General Tulius had given his speech.

"I wonder how long it will take before we're strong enough to push back against the Thalmor now..." Hadvar said sadly staring at the wreckage that was Windhelm. "Probably decades... damn those traitors..." he added shaking his head.

"So what are you going to do now?" Krinna asked.

Hadvar sighed before answering, "I guess that depends on what the General assigns me to. If I had my choice I think I'd like to just go back to Riverwood and relax for a while. Been a while since I've visited Ma and Pa's graves..."

That stirred a decade old pain that Krinna had contemplated asking Hadvar about since she'd returned to Skyrim. "I've still never seen their graves," she said sadly, "where are they?"

"I'm sorry, I thought I'd told you," Hadvar sighed. "They're in Whiterun's Hall of the Dead. If the General gives me leave I'll meet you in Whiterun and show you."

"That would be nice," Krinna nodded, "I'd really like to spend a little time at home, but I need to go back to figuring out how to take down Alduin." She sighed and looked at the sky. She knew what she needed to do, she just wasn't sure she was ready to do it. A little bit of down time with Hadvar and the Companions would be nice.

"That all you're planning to do next?" Hadvar asked, "throw yourself immediately back into the next battle?"

"I'm the Dragonborn," she sighed, "I kind of have to."

"What about that grumpy dark-haired fellow you keep bringing around with you?" Hadvar asked with a smile.

"Vilkas? He's my shield-brother from the Companions, what about him?" Krinna looked startled.

"I've never seen a man so loyal. You two should at least take a little time to celebrate." Hadvar winked.

Krinna laughed uneasily, "Hadvar, I don't have time for _that_."

"Oh come on, I've seen how you look at him," Hadvar laughed. "You can't honestly expect me to believe your destiny is to save the world and never have any happiness for yourself." He ruffled her hair as he stood up. "Besides," he added, "if the world's really going to end, there's no time like the present. I'll meet you in Whiterun, or send a courier if the General sends me somewhere else."

"Alright," Krinna sighed as Hadvar walked away. She thought about what he'd said about Vilkas, he might just be right. She'd almost lost Vilkas back at Fort Greenwall and it had scared her more than even Alduin... but part of the prophecy had involved her facing Alduin in Sovengarde... was it fair to fall in love if she was just going to die and leave him so soon? But if she was going to die, it would be nice to know love before she left... she clearly wasn't getting over him, and now that Vilkas's beast blood had been cured he would meet her in Sovengarde eventually... maybe she could just let it be his decision...

Then she remembered what Lydia had said about her being Harbinger probably keeping Vilkas from making the first move... "Which makes this all up to me," she grumbled to herself as she got to her feet.

Krinna decided to stop in Riften on her way back to Jorrvaskr.

***

Vilkas hadn't been present for the battle for Windhelm, he wasn't actually a legionnaire after all. Word reached Jorrvaskr that the war had been won at least a week before the Harbinger returned. She'd still never mentioned the ring on her finger, or any possible relationships, Vilkas had started to hold out hope that he'd just misunderstood, but then, a woman as beautiful as she was... it was hard to imagine she wasn't already taken... maybe there was a man back in Hammerfell, and he'd just not noticed the ring before? That seemed unlikely, he would have noticed.

When she did come back, the Companions celebrated her triumphant return. Several of their members weren't thrilled with the side she'd chosen, but nonetheless they drank to a unified Skyrim. Vilkas was content to sit back with his drink and listen to her stories of glorious combat. She even included stories where Vilkas had saved the day, cleaving through numerous Stormcloaks with Wuuthrad. That had earned him an approving clap on the shoulder from his brother and another round of drinks. But most of all, her smile made him happy.

In the days that followed his Harbinger had rested, doing nothing for a day, and then taking small local jobs for the Companions. Vilkas couldn't blame her, he was sure she needed the break.For a whole week, Vilkas saw nothing besides that damned ring to indicate she had a husband somewhere... her brother came to visit her, but there was no one else. Vilkas was starting to hope...

Then one afternoon she came back to Vilkas with a stolen family heirloom she'd retrieved, and she asked him to help her go deal with another dragon.

"I got an anonymous tip about a 'source of power' that I'm pretty sure is another word wall," she explained, showing him the letter, "and a word wall probably means a dragon," she added.

"And an anonymous letter is suspicious, so you want a shield-sibling," Vilkas reasoned with a smirk.

"Exactly," she grinned.

"Let's not waste any time," he'd nodded with a smile. She led the way and he followed hopefully.


	20. The Amulet

Krinna had been wearing the amulet of Mara under her armor for at least a week, but she couldn't get up the courage to let anyone see it yet, especially not Vilkas... what if Hadvar and Lydia were wrong... what if he wasn't interested in her? He'd had plenty of opportunity to tell her if he was, but he hadn't. What if he rejected her? She wasn't sure she was ready to deal with that... she felt so silly for it, but since making up her mind she was actually more worried about Vilkas's rejection than she was about Alduin.

Her nerves calmed a bit as they walked out of Whiterun. They quickly settled into what had become their normal travel, she walked ahead off the road, turning back every so often to make sure he was still there.

***

Vilkas watched as his Harbinger stayed a few paces ahead of him, trying not to be mesmerized by the sway of her hips, or the fact that she seemed to be smiling a lot more when she turned back to wait for him.

They made small talk as they made camp that night, Krinna had lit the campfire with a spell and it reminded Vilkas of the first time he'd seen her casting a spell, the day she'd torn a hole in the fabric of time just to save him. She'd used the healing spell on him several times since then. He noticed she'd started using more magic in general after that, casting destruction spells with her left hand, while swinging the sword with her right. Much as Vilkas disliked magic, he had to admit it was effective... but he was curious why she was only now starting to use it; before she'd cast that healing spell on him, he'd never seen her use any magic besides her shouts.

"If you don't mind me asking, Harbinger," he began slowly, "why do you do so much more magic now when you never did before?" She looked up at him thoughtfully and Vilkas quickly added, "not that I'm complaining, just curious..."

"Well," she shrugged, "I grew up always thinking Nords just weren't supposed to do magic, that it would make me less of a warrior if I did... but then after what happened at Fort Greenwall, I realized how stupid it is to ignore and entire skill set of mine just because of what is supposedly proper."

Vilkas nodded thoughtfully. She was the Dragonborn after all...

"Does it bother you to have a Harbinger that does magic?" Krinna asked, sounding uneasy.

"No," Vilkas shook his head, "if you had asked me that a few months ago my answer would have been very different, but I've seen you in battle. I know you fight with honor."

She smiled at that, looking a little relieved.

"Thank you," she sighed. With that she looked down and went back to stoking the fire. Vilkas watched her and thought... he really didn't mind magic so much... at least not her magic.

***

Krinna had thought about pulling the amulet out that night at camp, but she lost her nerve at the last minute. So she got up the next morning, made sure it was still securely underneath her armor, and they set off to find the word wall. Maybe she'd have more confidence after killing another dragon.

The word wall had been up a mountain near an old rundown fort. It had not been ideal terrain for fighting a dragon. Krinna had done more jumping and running and dodging than she was completely prepared for, and Vilkas had switched from Wuuthrad to his bow, and back again more times and more quickly than Krinna had previously thought possible. When the dragon finally lay dead and Krinna had absorbed its soul, she turned to climb back up to the wall. She found a new word and finished studying it by the time Vilkas made his way back up to join her. She turned to suggest they make camp before heading home, but saw his eyes, wide and staring at her chest... she glanced down. The amulet of Mara had fallen out from under her armor, and was now displayed plainly across her breastplate. Krinna froze, watching to see Vilkas's reaction.

***

Vilkas blinked. It was still there. His Harbinger was wearing an amulet of Mara.

"An amulet of Mara?" He asked in disbelief, the meaning slowly sinking in... maybe that ring wasn't a wedding ring after all... maybe there really was no other man. "You're not married?" He chuckled a little in hopeful shock. "Surprising..." he smiled. A blush crept across her face, but she cocked an eyebrow at him and gave him a smile that sent his heart hammering so hard she could probably hear it without beast blood. It dawned on him that if there was no other man, it was probably him she was interested in... she took a step closer to him.

"Interested in me, are you?" She asked; she was smiling coyly, but her face had turned several shades redder.

Interested was an understatement Vilkas thought. And her smile made him forget about that damned ring on her finger entirely. "I am," he nodded. "I'd be glad to stand by your side until the Divines take us, i...if you'll have me."

The delighted grin that spread across Krinna's face was an answer to every prayer he'd ever even thought about praying to Mara.

"I will," she said excitedly. She threw her arms around his neck and he needed no further invitation, he kissed her. It was sloppy at first, as Vilkas realized neither of them knew what they were doing, but they didn't care. When they got it figured out he still didn't know if they were doing it 'right', but he didn't care about that either. All Vilkas cared about was that she was his. When they finally broke apart, still grinning at each other and holding each other, Krinna said, "together then."

"Together," Vilkas agreed, "I don't care what comes next, you won't face it alone."

Krinna grinned at him again and pulled him back into another kiss. Vilkas obliged happily, wrapping his arms around her. The kiss quickly became more passionate. Vilkas wanted more, but the clank of their armor drew his mind back to their present location. They separated slowly and Vilkas looked into her eyes. She was still smiling.

"We should go to Riften," he suggested.

"If we leave now we can probably get there in time to schedule our wedding for tomorrow," she agreed.

"Which means tomorrow night..." he grinned pulling her back into an embrace. Then he leaned in to whisper in her ear "all this armor won't be in my way." He kissed her neck which made her shudder.

"I look forward to that," she replied before giving him another kiss. The kiss ended much quicker than Vilkas had expected, and she added, "which means we need to get going."


	21. Riften, then Home

They walked down the road hand in hand for a few minutes before Krinna spoke again.

"Vilkas?"

"Yes, love?"

"Why were you so surprised I wasn't married?"

"I'd thought you were for a few weeks now," he shrugged. That made Krinna stop and look at him in confusion.

"Vilkas," she said, "you've been all over Skyrim with me, practically since I first got back... how in Oblivion did you think I had time to be married?"

"Well..." Vilkas paused, "a woman as beautiful as you... and then there was that ring..." he pointed to her hand and she looked down in confusion.

"This?" She held up her hand and laughed as she looked at it again. "I never noticed it does look like a wedding ring..."

"Mmhmm..." Vilkas nodded, "That was what kept me from kissing you after you told me what you did at Fort Greenwall," he admitted. She looked back up at him as they began walking again.

"Vilkas, this is just a magic ring I found on some bandits that mugged me! It makes me a little bit harder to hit!" She explained. "I wish you had kissed me back then!" She added in exasperation, "it would have made this whole amulet of Mara business much less stressful!"

Vilkas laughed. It all made so much more sense now. "So, there's no boyfriend back in Hammerfell I need to worry about?" Vilkas teased.

"Nope," Krinna laughed, "Nords aren't exactly a standard of beauty in Hammerfell... you're... actually the first man to find me attractive..." she added a little embarrassed. Now it was Vilkas's turn to stop in his tracks.

"That's not true," he said firmly, looking into her eyes. "I may have been the first to comment on it, but anyone with eyes knows you're beautiful." That made her blush. She pulled his hand and they continued walking, hand-in-hand.

"What about you?" She asked after a few minutes, "I know the Companions' Master-at-Arms must be pretty popular in Whiterun..."

"I've gotten some attention," Vilkas admitted, "never accepted anything beyond winks and some free drinks, but Farkas and I both were pretty popular back when we used to frequent the Bannered Mare."

"Only winks and free drinks?" She questioned in mild suspicion.

"Only winks and free drinks," Vilkas repeated. "Jergen and Kodlak and raised us to be honorable."

"No favorite barmaids?" She teased.

"No," Vilkas laughed, he put an arm around her waist placed a gentle kiss on the side of her head. "A wolf mates for life, and I've never been interested in marrying a barmaid. I need a woman who can keep up with me." He winked at her for good measure and she laughed. He took her hand again and they continued down the road. Krinna looked lost in thought for several minutes before speaking again.

"Speaking of 'for life,' there's something I should probably tell you before we get to Riften..." the laugh was gone from her voice and Vilkas's breath caught in his throat as he waited for her to continue. She looked suddenly sad and seemed to be painstakingly considering her words. Vilkas just waited.

"My mother's prophecy," she began at last, "involved me facing Alduin... in Sovengarde." The meaning of her words hit him like a bucket of ice water. He stopped in his tracks and stared at her.

"I'm sorry!" She continued quickly, "I actually tried to get over my feelings for you for a few months because I knew I don't have long, and that wouldn't be fair to you, and then I've actually been hiding that amulet of Mara for at least a week trying to figure out how to tell you so you could take that into consideration before you made your decision..."

Vilkas pulled her into a tight embrace, silencing her rambling. "It wouldn't have changed my decision," he told her firmly. "Now, let's not waste any more time."

"You're sure?" She asked, "you want to be bound to me, even though I could be dead in a week?"

"I've been too in love with you for too long to let you go just because you might go to Sovengarde without me." Vilkas took her hand and they continued down the road to Riften.

***

The wedding was simple, and lovely. They rented the nicest room at the Bee and Barb for their first night together. Aside from a little clumsy, it was everything Vilkas could have dreamed of. She was his, really his.

They spent the next week making the most of married life and ignoring the rest of the world. When they got back to Jorrvaskr the Companions threw them another party. Vilkas couldn't remember being happier.

***

As Jorrvaskr celebrated the wedding of the Harbinger to the Master-At-Arms, Farkas was a little surprised, but definitely happy for his brother. He and Lydia had speculated which one of them it was who finally went and got an amulet of Mara and proposed. Lydia had bet Farkas a drink at the Bannered Mare that it was Vilkas, and Farkas took that bet. He knew it had to have been Krinna with how hopeless Vilkas had looked the last few weeks. But either way, he was excited that the bet meant he'd be going out for drinks with Lydia.

They both found it hilarious when Krinna told the story of what had actually happened... Krinna had gone and gotten an amulet, but then was too afraid to show it to Vilkas... the amulet fell out from under her armor during a dragon fight, and when Vilkas saw it he went for the proposal. Farkas laughed and teased both of them, and for the first time, Vilkas just took the teasing with a grin on his face. It seemed nothing could dampen his brother's mood now. He wasn't sure if he or Lydia had won the bet, but Lydia later decided that Farkas had won since it was actually Krinna who'd gone to Riften to get the amulet.

Then the happy dragon-hunting couple took off hunting dragons for their epic quest to save the world.

Farkas was happy for his brother and new sister-in-law, he was proud of them too... but they were hardly ever home anymore, which meant Farkas never had any time to get to Riften and get his own amulet of Mara.

Farkas had been planning his proposal to Lydiafor months, he just needed to get a hold of the amulet. He had nearly given up and just decided to pin her and kiss her one morning while they were training... there had been several opportunities he could have done so over the months... but Jergen and Kodlak had raised him to be an honorable man, and an honorable Nord proposes marriage by wearing an amulet of Mara, not by forcefully kissing the person of interest. So he needed an amulet, and he was getting highly frustrated by the complete lack of time he had to go get one.


	22. Send Off

A few weeks into their dragon hunting trip, Krinna had stumbled across Meridia's Beacon... at first Vilkas had been resistant to help a daedra, but then they learned it was a necromancer they were going after. Vilkas hated necromancers. The sword Meridia had given Krinna as reward for destroying Malkrin was a very nice one as well.

Then, in what felt like not nearly long enough to Vilkas, Krinna decided she couldn't put it off any longer; she must face her destiny, and Alduin. Vilkas was the only one who'd known how long she'd had the Elder Scroll, and he knew she was beginning to feel selfish for putting off her fight with Alduin.

She tried to talk him out of it, but Vilkas insisted he was going with her.

"Who's going to lead the Companions when I'm gone?" She'd argued.

"Not your grieving husband," he shrugged, "I'll be just as useless to them whether I stay there or go with you, so I may as well go. Aela and Farkas will figure it out."

"We should warn them where we're going and what we're doing then," she sighed in resignation.

***

When Vilkas and Krinna came back with the news they were ready to face Alduin, Farkas feared he'd never get to Riften. He was of course also worried he'd never see his brother again, and he'd hardly seen Krinna since she'd become his sister-in-law.

They had a feast at Jorrvaskr in their honor... it was supposed to be a traditional formality to send them off properly in case they didn't come back, but Farkas could tell by his brother's mood that he and Krinna weren't expecting to survive this fight. Farkas wasn't ready to deal with that. Aside from the obvious not wanting to lose the two of them, no Krinna would mean Lydia no longer had reason to spend time and train at Jorrvaskr.

At the feast, Farkas ate and drank and listened to Vilkas and Krinna's stories, and joined in telling a few of his own, but he just couldn't bring himself to be in a good mood. He excused himself not long after Lydia left and everyone else started making their way to bed as well.

Farkas was a little surprised later that evening when Vilkas came and found him in his room. He couldn't smell him or hear him coming from all the way down the hall anymore, but Farkas still recognized the specific sound of his brother's footsteps as he approached the door. He gave his usual gentle knock before opening the door and letting himself in. Farkas nodded to him and he sat down at the bar and just looked at Farkas sitting somberly on his bed.

"I hear you've been handling things well around here," Vilkas said as he helped himself to a bottle of mead.

"We've been managing," Farkas shrugged. Vilkas got up to hand Farkas a bottle as well and he accepted it with a soft chuckle. "How's married life?"

A grin spread across Vilkas's face, "I won't go into details but..."

"I don't want details!" Farkas interrupted with a laugh. Vilkas laughed too.

"Married life in general is amazing," Vilkas continued with a warm smile. "Being married to the Dragonborn is probably going to be the death of me," he added with a matter-of-fact shrug, "but I wouldn't trade her for anything in all of Tamriel, Oblivion, or Sovengarde."

Farkas smiled, it was a big difference from the last time he'd gotten to just sit and talk with his brother.

"I'm glad," Farkas smiled, "you were worrying me back before the war ended."

"Apologies brother," Vilkas sighed, "I was uh... wrong..."

"So what were you so upset about?" Farkas asked curiously. "It wasnt really because Krinna got assigned to blackmail someone, was it?"

"No," Vilkas sighed looking a little embarrassed, "I saw a ring on her finger when she got back from Riften, and I thought she'd gone off and married another man."

Farkas stared at his brother in shock for a moment. "How could you think she'd..."

"I know, I know," Vilkas shook his head with a smile.

"But I guess that explains why you looked so heartbroken," Farkas concluded.

"I was," Vilkas nodded. Then he took a long drink from his mead. "Listen brother," Vilkas began a little more seriously when he set the bottle down, "I know I promised I wouldn't press you about that woman you mentioned if you didn't want to talk about her, and I won't, but... I don't want you to live with that kind of heartbreak... I don't want you to spend the rest of your days just sitting around here alone."

Farkas raised an eyebrow at him in response and Vilkas continued, "take a break from Jorrvaskr if you need to, go find that housecarl and make her a happy woman."

Farkas let out a bitter chuckle at that. He didn't have the heart to tell Vilkas that his departure tomorrow could literally be the reason he wouldn't get to do that... but then Vilkas continued... "Krinna's amulet of Mara, it's in the end-table beside our bed in the Harbinger's chambers. It's yours if you decide you need it."

At that Farkas looked up at Vilkas in surprise.

"Thanks," he nodded, the smile slowly coming back to his face, "and stop takin' like you're never gonna see me again, I expect both of you to come back!"

Vilkas gave him a sad smile, "I hope we do," he shrugged.

They finished their drinks and Vilkas went back to the Harbinger's chambers. Farkas lay awake thinking. He couldn't believe after all these months he actually had an amulet of Mara, and he hadn't even had to to Riften to get it. Now he just needed to decide when he'd put his plan in to action... with any luck he'd be a married man by the time Krinna and Vilkas returned and there would be parties at Jorrvaskr for weeks.

***


	23. Alduin

Vilkas and Krinna spent what they both feared could be their last night of marital bliss, and left for High Hrothgar late in the morning.

"Before we get up there," Krinna spoke up as they left the High Hrothgar courtyard, "I meant to mention this a lot sooner, but I got distracted looking for the Elder Scroll..."

Vilkas looked at her attentively and she continued, "Paarthunax, the leader of the Graybeards, is a dragon."

"We're being helped by a dragon?" Vilkas asked skeptically. "How sure are you that he's on our side?"

"He was the one to first teach shouts to mortals, and he's waited at the Throat of the World for thousands of years so he could face Alduin when he returned," Krinna shrugged.

"That's good enough for me," Vilkas shrugged as well.

They reached the summit of the mountain and Krinna opened and read the Elder Scroll in the spot Paarthunax had indicated. Vilkas stood, bow ready, and waited. He saw the big black dragon beginning to approach in the distance, but Krinna was still transfixed to the Scroll. He stepped closer to his wife and prepared to cover for her. He fired a few arrows as the big black dragon got closer, but whether he'd missed or Alduin hadn't cared, Vilkas couldn't tell. Krinna came to as Alduin was upon them, and with a shout from Alduin, fire began to rain from the sky. Krinna stumbled, looking disoriented for only a moment before she got her bearings. Vilkas continued shooting arrows, and Paarthunax took the the air and began shouting back at Alduin.

"Dovahkiin," Paarthunax called, "use Dragonrend if you know it!"

Krinna pulled Dawnbreaker from its sheath and lit her left hand with a spark of electricity, then looking to the sky for Alduin,

"Joor Zah Frul!" Vilkas heard the shout like a crack of thunder and with a surprised roar, Alduin came crashing to the summit of the mountain. Vilkas switched to Wuuthrad and charged the downed dragon while Krinna rushed in with her sword and destruction spells.

The fight was long and exhausting, but worst of all, just when Vilkas was sure they had him, Alduin had taken to the air and escaped.

Paarthunax had called it a victory. Vilkas and Krinna still felt exhausted and discouraged, but at least they were alive... for now.

Vilkas listened as Krinna and Paarthunax discussed what to do next... he'd heard the legends about Dragonsreach, but had never believed them. Vilkas was starting to think he should just start assuming all the old legends were true.

They made their way down the mountain and rented a room at the inn in Ivrastead. Vilkas had been surprised she'd opted for an inn, since she usually liked to avoid them. But he couldn't argue with her reasoning when she'd told him she wanted a soft bed and a hot bath after that fight.

"One of these days, you're going to have to tell me what your aversion is to inns," Vilkas said half-joking as he helped his wife take her armor off.

"I don't have an aversion to inns," Krinna shrugged, "I just like camping."

"Ah," Vilkas chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her middle. She smiled at him and kissed him before assisting him with the removal of his own armor.

Vilkas was glad they'd payed extra for the hot bath. Krinna had healed them both fully with spells, but the hot water soothed his muscles in a way magic never seemed to. As they settled into bed, Vilkas held his wife close, trying not to think about the fact that every night could be their last. It was already another night more than he'd expected.

If the situation hadn't been so dire Vilkas would have laughed at the Jarl's reaction to Krinna's request to trap a dragon in the palace. He was amazed his wife had convinced the Jarl in the end. But with that detail sorted, they were quickly heading back out to the Throat of the World to consult Paarthunax again. Krinna hadn't wanted to waist any time, the longer they waited, the more time Alduin had to recover. She hadn't even wanted to stop at Jorrvaskr.

"I handled my goodbyes once," she'd explained, "I'll go back when it's my triumphant return." And Vilkas couldn't argue. They'd walked the whole day and reached Paarthunax by evening. He explained to Krinna how to call one of Alduin's allies once the trap in Dragonsreach was ready. Then they'd reached the bottom of the mountain by nightfall, and spent one last night in Ivrastead. There may have been more passion than sleep, but they both still felt rested enough by morning. They still set off for Dragonsreach earlier than Vilkas really wanted to.

The Jarl's men were ready when they arrived.

Once Ohdaviing was trapped Vilkas listened intently while his wife questioned him. He began cursing silently to himself; Alduin was in Sovengarde. Krinna was going to face him in Sovengarde after all... but the dragon agreed to take her to Alduin's secret entrance to Sovengarde, and Vilkas let his heart hope she would be able to return... Then Krinna had the guards release the dragon. Vilkas rushed forward and grabbed his wife's hand as the dragon turned around, preparing to leave.

"Are you ready to see the world as only a Dovah can?" The dragon asked.

"We're ready," Krinna nodded, still holding Vilkas's hand. The dragon looked then to Vilkas.

"Krosis," it said, "only a Dov may enter..."

The words hit Vilkas like a knife in the heart as his wife looked back at him with tears welling in her eyes. She let go of his hand and threw her arms around him. Vilkas embraced her tightly and kissed her, not caring who saw. Then, clutching her face gently in his hands he wiped her tears as he looked into her eyes.

"You're going to be great my love. I'll await your return, or join you at the end of my days."

"Just promise me you won't do anything stupid to speed up your end of days," she tried to laugh but it came out as a sniffle.

"Of course," Vilkas tried to smile reassuringly, but there were tears in his own eyes now, "where would be the honor in that?"

She hugged him tightly again and whispered in his ear, "I love you."

"And I love you," Vilkas replied. He kissed her again before they parted, and she turned to climb on to the dragon's back. "Bye love," he said sadly as the dragon flew away.

Vilkas stayed and stared off into the distance at the Dragonsreach balcony for hours. When the sun began to dip below the horizon he turned and walked numbly back to Jorrvaskr. He went straight to his room and didn't even bother taking off his armor.


	24. Technical Difficulties

Farkas retrieved the amulet, then took a couple days to work up his nerve. Finally, one morning, he tucked the amulet under his armor as he prepared for his morning training.

He smiled warmly at Lydia as she made her way down the steps from Dragonsreach.

Training began as usual. Lydia had been getting better so their training usually only consisted of a single match lately because it usually took so long for one of them to win. Farkas put all his effort into making it a good fight. Lydia didn't disappoint, not that that surprised Farkas. Their match lasted even longer than usual, but Farkas finally got her backed up against the wall and when she swung at him he caught her sword with his and pinned her to the wall.

"I win," he smirked at her.

"I don't think so," Lydia smirked back. Then, in a move so quick Farkas wasn't sure what she even did, Lydia twisted her sword, shoved against him and dropped out of his grasp. He scrambled to keep ahold of her and they ended up in a grapple. Their grapple quickly went to the ground and Lydia managed to get him pinned in a straddle, flat on his back with his hands above his head... a position that Farkas could have easily gotten out of, if it hadn't been for the dagger she pulled off her belt and held to his throat.

"_I_ win," Lydia smirked down at him. They were both breathing heavily and Farkas just had to smile back at her.

"You got me," he admitted. She slowly removed her dagger and released his hands with a beautiful, triumphant smile on her face. Farkas reached to his collar and pulled the amulet of Mara out from under his armor. "Won't lie though," he said still smiling, "you've had me for a while now... if you're interested..."

Lydia blinked and just stared at him in shock for several moments, still sitting with her kneesstraddling his abdomen. Her shocked expression slowly shifted to a surprised looking smile, and then to one of pure joy.

"Farkas, I... I am... why wouldn't I be? You're... are... are you sure?"

Farkas chuckled, she was stumbling over her words just as much as he usually did. "Never been more sure about anything," he answered with a grin. Lydia, still sitting on him, leaned forward and planted an excited kiss on his lips. Farkas kissed her back passionately, letting his arms wrap around her waist. Part of him was terrified he would wake up from the best dream of his life any moment now. When they parted for air Lydia looked happily down into his eyes and Farkas knew he wasn't dreaming.

"Then it's settled," he grinned, "You and me."

"As uncertain as life can be, at least we'll have each other," Lydia nodded. She was so happy Farkas could see tears welling in her eyes. Farkas just grinned and pulled her back down into another kiss.

"Well that's not something you see every day... am I drunk? I must be drunk..." they heard Torvar comment several moments later.

"I think I need a drink," Athis replied bluntly. Farkas slowly let Lydia go and she climbed off of him, then offered him a hand up, both of them still grinning excitedly.

"You whelps are training on your own today," Farkas announced as he got to his feet, "I've got things to go do in Riften."

***

"But my Thane did give me permission," Lydia argued with the steward at Dragonsreach.

"That may be, but you have no record of it. So unless your Thane, or someone who can legally speak for your Thane, like a spouse or a steward, can come and verify your claim, I can't help you with this."

Farkas thought Lydia was going to punch the steward for a moment and part of him was disappointed when she didn't.

"This is ridiculous," Lydia grumbled in frustration as they walked out of Dragonsreach.

"What do we do now?" Farkas asked once they got outside.

"I don't know," Lydia sighed, "wait for Krinna and Vilkas to come back I guess."

"Hope they come back," Farkas grumbled sadly.

"Let's at least go get a drink to celebrate," Lydia suggested as she took his hand with a sad smile.

***

It wouldn't have been proper or honorable to do everything Farkas wanted to, but he and Lydia still enjoyed each other's company with a few drinks in Farkas's room. He probably kissed her more than was technically proper, but no one besides the two of them needed to know that.

Much as they didn't want to separate, Lydia still went back to Dragonsreach for the night.

The next morning Farkas made his way upstairs for breakfast. He felt downright depressed. He was staring at his breakfast and beginning to contemplate whether or not he'd be able to impersonate Vilkas, when the chair beside him was pulled out and Vilkas himself dropped into it.

"What's troubling you, brother?" Vilkas asked. Farkas blinked in surprise, and realized with excitement that Vilkas was actually there. He could have hugged him, he almost did, but then he noticed the state his brother was in. His armor was covered in soot and grim, his warpaint was a large smear all over his face, and his eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot.

"You look awful," Farkas said bluntly. "Where's Krinna?" he asked worriedly. They way Vilkas seemed to deflate even more at the question confirmed Farkas's fears.

"Sovengarde," Vilkas said quietly, hanging his head.

"I... I see," Farkas said sadly, "I'm sorry brother." He didn't know what else to say, he wasn't sure how to wrap his mind around this one... Krinna was gone, just like Kodlak... and Skjor... and his father... Lydia was going to be devastated too...

Farkas was pulled from his thoughts as Vilkas took another deep breath.

"Now what's troubling you?" Vilkas asked.

"Oh, I... I can't bother you with that now," Farkas shook his head. He didn't think his brother would want to hear about his troubles after losing his own wife...

"No, please do, I need the distraction," Vilkas insisted, and Vilkas's sleep-deprived appearance made Farkas realize he really might do well with a distraction.

"Well..." Farkas began hesitantly, "housecarls aren't allowed to get married without express permission from their masters..." Farkas nervously watched Vilkas's expression as he processed his words.

"Is the master refusing?" Vilkas asked, "do you need me to go rough someone up? Who is it?"

Farkas was a little surprised Vilkas sounded almost excited at that prospect. "Not exactly," he said slowly, he wasn't sure how to approach the answer so he decided to just say it bluntly... "I guess with Krinna gone, it'd be you..."

"Ah..." Vilkas answered, a look of realization on his face. "Well that's even easier to fix, we can just go to the Jarl now," he said with a shrug.

"Vilkas, I can't ask you to do that right now," Farkas protested. His brother looked like he need a bath and a week of sleep, not to go running off to the Jarl trying to solve other people's problems.

"Nonsense," Vilkas replied getting to his feet, "I said I need a distraction."

"Then at least go wash or somethin' first!" Farkas grabbed Vilkas by the back of his armor and pulled him back.

"Fine," Vilkas grumbled, and to Farkas's relief, Vilkas went back down stairs.

He returned several minutes later looking at least a little better... he was still wearing the blue and silver plate armor that he'd gotten on one of his adventures with Krinna, but he at least smelled a little cleaner and his face looked less streaked.

"Have you talked to Lydia yet or do I need to grab you that amulet too?" Vilkas asked.

"Talked to her yesterday," Farkas answered. He took the amulet back out of his pocket to show him. "Technical rules for housecarls 's the only problem," he added.

"Let's go solve your technical problem then," Vilkas said eagerly heading toward the door.

"Vilkas, are you sure you're ok? Lydia and I can wait, you should..." Farkas realized Vilkas was already out the door. "Damn it brother!"


	25. At Last

At Dragonsreach everyone was milling around nervously. Farkas went to find Lydia while Vilkas walked straight up to the steward.

Lydia had been sitting at the table on the side of the room, poking at breakfast, but she looked up in surprise when she saw Vilkas walk in.

"You heard about Krinna?" Farkas asked grimly as he walked up and put a hand on her shoulder.

"One of the guards told me a dragon carried her off to Sovengarde... alive..." Lydia answered in confusion.

"Alive?" Farkas repeated, "Vilkas had me thinking she died..."

"No! I said my 'wife' not 'late wife'!" They heard Vilkas snap angrily at the steward. Several conversations in the palace hushed as they all looked at Vilkas in confusion. Farkas hurried forward and put a hand on his brother's shoulder, in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.

"My apologies, sir," the steward said before quickly turning to see to paperwork in his office. The hush in the room lasted for several moments, until the Jarl cleared his throat loudly and went back to what he'd been saying to Irileth.

"Thank you, Vilkas," Lydia said quietly as she stepped forward and took Farkas's other hand. Vilkas turned around and smiled sadly at them.

"She wanted you two to be happy," he said. "Now hurry up, go have your wedding. We'll have a great party at Jorrvaskr when you return!"

"Vilkas, you're sure you're ok w—"

"Yes, go!" Vilkas interrupted Farkas. "Either hurry up so you'll be back in time for Krinna's triumphant return from Sovengarde, or hurry up so you can have your wedding night before the world ends. Either way, hurry up!"

Farkas clapped him on the shoulder and pulled him into a hug. He felt better about leaving now that he knew he wasn't leaving his brother to grieve alone, and he liked the idea of hurrying so they'd be back for Krinna's return. "Thank you, brother," he said before he turned and took Lydia's hand.

***

Vilkas smiled sadly as they left. Krinna was going to be so excited for them when she came back, he thought.

Vilkas let himself out to the Dragonsreach patio where Krinna had left from the day before. Civilians were technically not allowed up there, but none of the guards said anything to him. He watched the sky most of the morning before going back to Jorrvaskr. He trained half-heartedly in the yard for a few hours before going back inside to nibble on some bread. By the third day Aela, Ria, and Tilma convinced him to take a proper bath and eat a little more food. He still insisted on wearing the Blades armor, but he finally relented and allowed Tilma to clean it for him. Farkas and Lydia returned that night, but they insisted the celebration wait till Krinna returned. Vilkas moved to the Harbinger's room so Farkas and Lydia could have a little more privacy. It was practically his room anyway, but it felt wrong to be there without Krinna. He hardly slept.

The afternoon of the fifth day Vilkas was in the yard, going through the motions of training when he heard a thundering sound from the direction of the Throat of the World. Vilkas dropped what he was doing and watched the sky. A large storm cloud was encircling the summit of the mountain, and he could see dragons flying in and out of it... dozens of them... they were all shouting... half in chorus... their voices thundered through the clouds. Vilkas could hear their words clearly, but he couldn't understand them... he did hear something about Alduin... he might have heard the word Dovahkiin...

Other people were noticing now, scared citizens were running indoors, and the guards and other Companions were scrambling to the streets and watching, readying their weapons. Vilkas climbed up to the forge where he could see better. The thundering chorus continued for several tense minutes before dragon's began flying out, scattering across the sky in several directions. One dull gold dragon came swooping down toward Whiterun; Vilkas recognized him. Then he heard the guards shouting at each other to take aim.

"Stop, don't shoot!" Vilkas yelled sprinting down into the street. The guards all looked at him like he'd lost his mind but they lowered their bows for the time being. Vilkas ran partially up the steps to Dragonsreach where he could be easily seen and waved wildly with both arms. "Paarthunax!" He called, "What news?!"

"Drem yol lok, sahrot ahmul se Dovahkiin," Paarthunax greeted, swooping low and flapping just above the city. Then, "Alduin mahlaan. Alduin has fallen," the old dragon announced. Vilkas felt his heart swell with pride.

"And the Dragonborn?" He asked anxiously.

"The Dovahkiin rides home on the very wings that bore her to Sovengarde." Paarthunax answered as he gained altitude. The guards lowered their weapons in awe and Vilkas looked frantically around the sky. A moment later he saw it, the red dragon, Odahviing sailing high overhead, beginning to descend toward Dragonsreach. Vilkas took off at a sprint up the stairs, into the palace, and out to the patio where Odahviing was coming in to land. And Vilkas was there to catch her when she slid off the dragon's back.

"Vilkas!" Krinna said excitedly throwing her arms around his neck. He spun her around and kissed her.

"I knew you could do it, love."

"That makes one of us," she laughed. She let herself slump into his arms in exhaustion. Vilkas held her firmly.

"Are you alright, my love?" He asked looking down at her in concern.

"Yeah, but I could sleep for a week," she groaned. "How long was I gone?"

"About 5 days."

"Sounds about right," she sighed leaning on his shoulder.

"Let's get you home. Do you need me to carry you?"

"No, I can walk if it's just to Jorrvaskr."

Krinna thanked Odahviing and they took their leave.

Vilkas held her hand as they reentered the Jarl's palace. Guards held the doors for them and they were met with cheers of "hail the Dragonborn!" coming from several places at once. Once they exited the front doors of the palace the cheers grew louder. Vilkas beamed as his wife looked at the crowd in surprise. Most of the guards and half of the town had gathered spontaneously to welcome their hero home. Vilkas heard several offers to buy rounds of drinks, and Krinna looked overwhelmed.

"We will celebrate her triumph when she's ready!" Vilkas announced sternly to the crowd. "Right now the Dragonborn needs rest." At that the cheers continued, but the crowd parted to let them pass.

"Make sure you remember the 'rest' part when you get her downstairs!" Vilkas heard Torvar's voice call out loudly over the crowd as they reached the doors of Jorrvaskr. There were laughs and whistles in response to that. Vilkas felt his face flush and he quickly pulled his wife inside.

"I might kill Torvar when I've got the energy," Krinna laughed, her face had turned pink as well.

"If I don't beat you to it," Vilkas laughed. Krinna smiled and leaned heavily on his shoulder, enjoying the quiet moment. "Let's get you downstairs before that crowd follows us."

Vilkas scooped her into his arms and carried her down to the Harbinger's chambers.


	26. Aftermath

Vilkas thought his wife might fall asleep in his arms.

"Come on," he said gently setting her in a chair. "You'll sleep better if we get you out of your armor and cleaned up, and probably at least a little bit to eat."

"You're right," she sighed, and began removing her boots and gauntlets. Vilkas brought hot water for the washbasin and some clean cloths, while Tilma stopped in briefly to deliver a small bowl of beef stew. Then Vilkas helped his wife take off the rest of her armor. Krinna gratefully washed her hands and face in the washbasin before she began removing her under tunic and pants. Vilkas was startled by the scars now painted across her body.

"By Ysmir..." he swore quietly. Vilkas knew pretty well by now that healing spells and potions would close wounds and keep you alive, but if too much damage was sustained in too short a period of time the scars could take longer to heal... he'd never seen aftermath like this on a body that had survived though. The skin was smooth and soft, as the spells had worked, but there were thick red patches and lines where Vilkas could only assume claws or teeth had penetrated her armor, and other red/purple patches that looked like they had been burns that covered most of her legs and arms, and large swatches of her torso. Krinna looked down at her body and sighed.

"I should probably go see Danica for some more professional healing spells tomorrow."

"How many potions did you use?" Vilkas asked, gingerly running his fingers along one of the scars on her back.

"Oh I ran out," Krinna almost laughed. "I ran out of healing potions and started using magica potions so I could cast healing spells quickly enough."

Vilkas gave a low whistle in surprise as he wet one of the cloths with the warm water. "Must have been quite the battle," Vilkas said. He began gently wiping away the grime on the back of her neck.

"Several of them," Krinna sighed. She leaned tiredly in the chair and let Vilkas work as she began to explain in between bites of stew. "First I had to go through a few dragons and a whole crypt worth of drauger just to get to the portal. Then I had to battle Tsun to earn the right to enter the Hall of Valor so-"

"You did battle with Tsun?" Vilkas interrupted in amazement, "and you won!"

"I wouldn't say 'won'," Krinna shrugged, "but did well enough to pass... reminded me of trying to convince you to let me into the Companions," she added with a wink.

"Really?" Vilkas chuckled.

"Well, he was a bit more friendly than you were... but yeah."

"And what kind of reputation do you think the Companions would have if I was nice to every newcomer who tried to join us?"

Krinna laughed. "I know, I know."

"But you passed Tsun's test..." Vilkas smiled, prompting her to go on.

"Yes," she nodded, "I entered the Hall of Valor..."

Vilkas listened in awed fascination, still gently cleaning her with the warm cloth, as she described meeting Ysgramor and other ancient heroes. Then how the four of them had charged out of the hall to face Alduin and finally bring him down.

"And I found Kodlak," she added when she was done, "he was lost for a while in Alduin's cursed fog, but he made it out last, and he's made it to the Hall of Valor now."

"That's wonderful news," Vilkas smiled. "What's the Hall of Valor like?"

"Picture Jorrvaskr, but on the grandest scale you can imagine..." she smiled, and continued her descriptions of Sovengarde. Vilkas listened in wonder as he continued cleaning. By the time he finished wiping the grime from her feet she was starting to mumble and slur her words.

"I think you're falling asleep, my love," he chuckled. "Let's get you in bed." Vilkas lifted her gently from the chair.

"Mmmhmm," Krinna mumbled. She stood long enough for Vilkas to wrap a clean tunic around her. "Thank you, Vilkas," she said with a sleepy smile. Vilkas lifted her back into his arms and just held her bridal style for a moment.

"Of course, love," he smiled at her. Krinna wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder. For a moment Vilkas just enjoyed the fact that she was back in his arms... that she was alive... then he laid her gently in bed, and kissed her forehead. He sat on the side of the bed, stroking her hair until he was sure she was asleep. Then, with a sigh, he collected the dirty cloths and water basin and took them back upstairs.

Farkas, Lydia, and Aela were sitting in the main hall near the living quarter stairs.

"How is she?" Farkas asked as soon as he saw Vilkas ascending the stairs.

"She had a rough time and she needs rest," Vilkas shook his head. "I've never seen so many scars..."

"Has she not been healed?" Aela asked in alarm.

"As much as magic can heal her," Vilkas nodded. Vilkas gave the a vague description of the aftermath, but said he'd leave the story telling to her when she woke up. They all nodded in understanding. Vilkas looked around at his somber family members, and his thoughts went back down the stairs to his wife. Then the old woman, Tilma, caught his eye as she approached.

"Here," she said as she pushed a mug of spiced mead into his hands, "sit and rest. You've been through a lot this week too."

Vilkas accepted the mug gratefully and slumped into a chair. He had wanted to protest that he was fine, it was nothing compared to what Krinna had been through, but he had to admit the emotional turmoil and lack of sleep were wearing on him. A few moments later Tilma placed a small bowl of stew in front of him.

"You should eat something, and then go rest with your wife," she said with a smile.

"Thank you, Tilma," Vilkas sighed, "I'll do that."

Farkas, Lydia, and Aela sat with him for several minutes while he ate, and they discussed the plans for the upcoming week. Whiterun was already throwing a huge party in Krinna's honor that would probably last until Krinna had the energy to enjoy it too. Then they'd have to have the party for Lydia and Farkas when that was done. Tilma had excitedly promised to prepare multiple feasts.

When Vilkas finished eating and finished his mead, Farkas, Lydia, and Aela made their way outside to join the festivities, and Vilkas made his way downstairs. Krinna was still sleeping soundly, exactly where he'd left her. Vilkas collected her armor and put it with his own out in the hallway in case Tilma got around to cleaning it (he'd clean it himself later if she didn't). Then he climbed carefully into bed and snuggled up with his wife. It was the best sleep Vilkas could remember getting in his life.


	27. Recovery

When he woke Krinna was sleeping comfortably with her head on his chest. Vilkas smiled and lay in bed for another hour watching her sleep and waiting for her to wake. He began gently running his fingers through her hair and she smiled in her sleep. He kissed her forehead and her eyes fluttered so he kissed her again.

"Mmm... Vilkas..." she she mumbled. Vilkas chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. He sat up and pulled her into his lap, and began planting gentle kisses down her face and neck. He found the spot that made her squirm and focused on it with his mouth.

"Vilkas!" She giggled and squirmed. "Alright I'm awake!"

Vilkas lay back in the bed and she rolled over against his chest so she was on top of him. She smiled at him and snaked her arms around his neck. Then she kissed his lips with more passion than Vilkas had been expecting her to have energy for. Vilkas kept his arms around her waist and kissed her back; he was not about to refuse her anything.

Some time later when they were finally ready to get out of bed, Vilkas dressed in his old, comfortable wolf armor and Krinna wrapped herself in the robes she got from the mages' college. Vilkas raised an eyebrow at her.

"Mages robes?" He questioned.

"They're comfortable," Krinna shrugged, "but they're also easy to put on and take off, without being as defenseless as normal clothes. I want to go to Danica when I'm done eating to see if she can do anything about these scars."

"Well, you'd better take a shield-sibling if you're going to be so unprotected..." Vilkas said with a wink.

"Hmmm..." Krinna said teasingly, "you think Farkas would want to go with me?"

Vilkas laughed, and he realized he hadn't told her about Farkas and Lydia. "Nah, he got married recently, he'll be busy."

"Wait, WHAT?"

Vilkas laughed again. "Sorry love, I was probably supposed to let them tell you."

As Krinna gingerly put her boots on, Vilkas explained how he'd advised Farkas where to find her old amulet of Mara, and then told her of the awkward trouble they'd had giving Lydia permission to get married.

"I'm glad they let you give her permission in my place!" Krinna laughed.

"Aye," Vilkas agreed, helping her to her feet. "Now let's get upstairs, I'm sure everyone is waiting to see you."

They made their way upstairs and Tilma brought them breakfast with a warm smile. Aela and Ria were already up, and Lydia and Farkas made their way upstairs only a few minutes later. Krinna was excited to see Lydia, and congratulated the new couple enthusiastically.

"I hope you don't mind, my Thane..." Lydia said a little sheepishly.

"Of course I don't!" Krinna exclaimed with a laugh, "I'm glad they let Vilkas give you permission in my place! How was the wedding?"

As they all began their breakfast Lydia told her of their trip to Riften, of the simple ceremony, and of the room they'd rented at the Bee and Barb. Farkas had rested his arm across the back of Lydia's chair with his hand on her shoulder, and just smiled contentedly while his wife spoke.

Farkas spoke up after Lydia told them about the room they'd rented, "We'll spare you the details, but it was a good night." That made Lydia blush, and Farkas grinned.

Then Farkas asked Krinna for her story of Alduin and Sovengarde, and Vilkas enjoyed hearing his wife tell of Alduin's defeat again as they ate breakfast.

Later in the day they went to the temple of Kynareth. Danica did her best to heal Krinna's scars a little more, but had warned them that there's only so much a body can take. Some of the scars would just take time, and some may never fully go away.

"Well, at least they don't hurt anymore," Krinna sighed. They left the temple and Krinna sat down at a bench beneath the Gildergreen tree. She looked disappointed.

"What's wrong, love?" Vilkas asked sitting next to her.

"I... it's just..." she sighed, "I feel bad you have to have a wife with such an awful scarred up body."

Vilkas looked back at her in shock for a moment. "Did this morning give you any indication that that bothered me?" He asked with a suggestive smirk.

"I guess not," she sighed. She smiled, but she still looked sad. She looked down at the scars across her hands and her smile faded completely.

"Krinna, my love, look at me," Vilkas said gently. He put an arm around her shoulders and his other hand cupped the side of her face. "You are still a beautiful woman," he told her firmly, "but I love you for so much more than that. Your scars remind me of the amazing things you've been through and overcome. You're an amazing warrior, with a quick wit, and a kind and beautiful heart. And as I said before, I will stand by your side until the divines take us."

She smiled at that, and he kissed her. "And then we'll celebrate in Sovengarde," she added when they separated, her smile more genuine now.

"Exactly," Vilkas grinned before kissing her again. They were interrupted by a guard awkwardly clearing his throat. Vilkas laughed. "But for now we can celebrate here."

In the days that followed all of Whiterun celebrated. There were even a few visitors from other towns, including Delphine and the other old Blades member, and Krinna's brother. Vilkas was pretty sure Krinna would never have to buy her own alcohol as long as she lived in Whiterun. So many guards and other citizens offered to buy the drinks. Tilma had held up her promise to cook the feasts for Jorrvaskr.

They ate, drank and partied by day; and by night Vilkas made sure to reassure his wife of just how attractive and arousing he still found her. By the end of the week Krinna had mostly regained her strength, both physically and emotionally. Vilkas was relieved when she put her armor back on and and asked him to spar with her. He went easy on her of course, but he wasn't sure he would have won either way. She fought with only the one sword now, she practiced keeping her left hand free for spell casting in a real fight. Vilkas admired how his wife could hold her own with or without weapons, and with or without magic.

They had a day or two of normal daily activities, before Jorrvaskr threw its celebration for Farkas and Lydia.

***

All of Whiterun celebrated for weeks, and Farkas and Lydia proudly joined in. Krinna had tried to suggest that Jorrvaskr should celebrate Farkas and Lydia’s wedding first, but they’d talked her out of that.

“There wouldn’t be anything to celebrate if the world had ended,” Lydia had argued.

“It’s not like waiting to celebrate means we’re waiting to be married,” Farkas added with a grin.

Krinna recovered slowly and she and Vilkas joined in the celebrations as well. By the time the city settled down, Farkas and Lydia requested their wedding celebration be a little more subdued. Tilma prepared a feast and Krinna seemed relieved to no longer be the center of attention. Farkas couldn’t blame her, the feast and celebration was nice, but being the center of attention was a little uncomfortable for him.

He and Lydia agreed, once the celebrations were done, the simple life of a regular Companion would be lovely.

Life slowly got back to normal at Jorrvaskr, except now Farkas had a wife and a sister-in-law. He and his brother were happier than Farkas had ever dared to dream they could be.


End file.
